NFL combine Sunday preview: Cornerbacks and safeties work out

NFL

INDIANAPOLIS — Sunday will be the fourth and final day of the on-field workouts at the NFL’s scouting combine at Lucas Oil Stadium, after the defensive linemen, linebackers worked out for all 32 teams Saturday.

A look at what you need to know:

The workouts: 2 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (NFL Network), cornerbacks and safeties will do the vertical jump, broad jump, 40-yard dash and position drills.

And … : As the defensive linemen and linebackers leave Sunday morning, the defensive backs will be the only players remaining at the combine.

The record holders: Current Dallas Cowboys cornerback Byron Jones, who is poised to be one of the most sought-after free agents in the market, set the combine’s broad jump record in 2015 with a leap of 12-feet-2 ¾ inches. At the time some said it may have been a world record standing broad jump, which was an Olympic event in the early days. Deion Sanders’ 40-yard dash in 1989, after Sanders’ had initially told scouts he wasn’t going to run, clocked in at 4.27 seconds as he ran into the tunnel of the Hoosier Dome.

At the top of the board: Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah, at 6-1 1/8, 205 pounds, leads a group of big corners that will all get first-round consideration in the draft. It is a group that also includes Florida’s C.J. Henderson (6-0 ¾, 204), Utah’s Jaylon Johnson (5-11 7/8, 193) and Alabama’s Trevon Diggs (6-1 3/8, 205). Alabama’s Xavier McKinney is the best safety in the draft and with Diggs and Crimson Tide cornerback Shyheim Carter also at the combine, it means three members of the Alabama secondary are in Indy.

Who can really help himself: Lenoir-Ryne safety Kyle Dugger has done nothing but help himself in the pre-draft process with quality work at the Senior Bowl, where he was the only Division II player. A good workout in Indy would give him another bump. Dugger played seven games this past season due to injury so his postseason work has helped remind scouts of the player who finished his career with 10 interceptions, six forced fumbles, two blocked kicks and six punt return touchdowns. Dugger also took a redshirt year in 2016 because of a hamstring injury, so his work in recent weeks has enabled him to regain the momentum he had as representatives from all 32 teams had visited the school’s Hickory, N.C., campus to see him.

Don’t miss: Among the list of new drills added to the combine workouts this year, including four new drills for the defensive backs, the cornerbacks and safeties will participate in their own version of the gauntlet drill that the receivers have been put through for years — passers rifle the ball as the player moves across the field. For the defensive backs the drills will be timed as well.

More on the combine:

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