Feb. 23--Byron Jones is doing his best to jump up NFL teams' draft boards with an impressive showing at the scouting combine.
The Connecticut cornerback beat what is considered to be the world record in the broad jump by leaping 12 feet, 3 inches from a standing position on Monday morning in Indianapolis.
The broad jump hasn't been an Olympic sport since 1912. But apparently it remained big in Norway, where Arne Tvervaag made the longest recorded standing long jump of 12 feet, 2.1 inches in 1968.
The NFL is saying Jones' broad jump is the longest at the combine since 2003. The league's website tracks the combine results only to 2006, and Jones' mark is eight inches better than anyone on there.
Tough to tell exactly how a cornerback would use the ability to jump great distances from a standing position, but it's an impressive feat nonetheless.
A skill that can help a defensive back, however, is the ability to jump high. And Jones excelled at that as well. His vertical jump of 44.5 inches is just a half-inch off the best mark this year at the combine.
Jones is said to be still recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum that ended his 2014 season with the Huskies after seven games. WalterFootball.com has him projected as being drafted between the third and fifth rounds as the 18th cornerback overall.
