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Have you noticed a lot of fast 40 times coming out of this year's edition of pro days? Like… really fast times? Dare I say… suspiciously fast?

So has everyone in the league.

"Crazy, man," one GM texted me when I asked how he's dealing with these times. "Difficulty of not having the combine."

Pro days have always turned out faster times than the combine. You'd be hard-pressed to find a guy who ran slower at his pro day compared to what he did in Indy, and so often it has been chalked up to schools and agents juicing the numbers they publicly report.

But the numbers coming out of these pro days are coming straight from scouts, even if they're hand timed over laser. And the absence of the traditional combine has placed a greater focus on making sure everything is legitimate.

"I just hope the scouts are measuring to make sure they are actually 40 yards," one scout joked this week.

This week has turned out some eye-popping times. Auburn wide receiver Anthony Schwartz ran a 4.26. Mississippi receiver Elijah Moore turned in a 4.32. Alabama defensive tackle Christian Barmore ran a 4.93 and 4.95 at 310 pounds. Penn State edge rusher Jayson Oweh blazed a 4.36 and top linebacker prospect Micah Parsons posted a 4.38.

Are these times for real? In short, yes.

"Nothing new," one scout said.

"They are always faster at pro day," an agent said.

"I think it shows us a lot about the stress of the combine more than anything," one personnel exec told me.

And I think that's the main point here. For years these prospects wake up early to run the 40 — or in the case of 2020, wait until the end of the day to run it in primetime.

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"Guys aren't at the end of a drained week of poking and prodding, psychological test and little rest," an agent said. "At home, good night's rest in your own bed, proper time to warm up.

"Combine is more of how the player deals with adversity."

It makes sense that prospects would run better in a more comfortable environment, and that's something I touched on last year during our three-part COVID-19 series as it related to the impending disappearance of home-field advantage.

NFL clubs will still do their best to stress-test prospects to learn how they perform under pressure. But the absence of all the pressures of combine week may very well also be helping these prospects run faster times.

Licht congratulations

Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Jason Licht deserves the flowers he's getting for retaining all 22 starters from their Super Bowl season. Inking Leonard Fournette to a one-year deal worth up to $4 million helped the Bucs become the answer to the latest NFL trivia question.

Who was the last team to keep all 22 starters?

Licht should get plenty of credit, but I reached out to folks around the league to ask just how much credit he's due. After all, Tom Brady deciding to join Tampa and winning there has a whole lot to do with so many guys returning, too.

One player rep pointed out how Jackie Davidson, Tampa Bay's director of football research, and Mike Greenberg, director of football administration for the Bucs, are helping make it happen behind the scenes with their salary cap work. But further, it's the confluence of a depressed cap plus a team filled with veteran would-be free agents who have gotten their big paydays.

"I think it helps having a few vets over 30 who have already made a ton of money and aren't necessarily looking for real 4-5 year deals with $30-50 million guarantee commitments," the player rep said.

Keeping the likes of Lavonte David, Ndamukong Suh and Rob Gronkowski is easier when they've all gotten big deals in years past.

Goodell resuming role?

Ever since Deflategate came to its merciful end in the 2016 NFL season, commissioner Roger Goodell has been conspicuously absent from his old post at the gallows.

It was a deft move to take the scythe out of Goodell's hands after a difficult several years that involved Spygate, Bountygate, Ray Rice and Deflategate. But he very well may have to resume his role as the league's top punisher as the Deshaun Watson case unfolds.

There are now 16 civil lawsuits Watson is facing, all filed by Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, that allege sexual misconduct or sexual assault. Watson, through his attorney Rusty Hardin, has maintained his innocence.

Because the league's personal conduct policy doesn't require there to be a criminal conviction or civil resolution for there to be a suspension, Goodell could eventually suspend Watson for up to six games to begin the 2021 season. Of course, the season is more than five months away, and Watson's side has had just a couple of weeks to even begin mounting a legal defense.

In any case, it's been a half-decade since Goodell got involved in high-profile player punishment, and I think that's been good for everyone within the league. But he may very well have to resume those duties sooner than later.

No mandatory vaccines

Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical doctor, told NFL Media on Thursday that the league won't mandate its players getting the COVID-19 vaccine in order to play in 2021. This jibes both with what I heard and with common sense, so I was surprised to hear, well… surprise at the news.

The NFL is very obviously putting out a pro-vaccine message. They did so beginning with Super Bowl LV and filling half the stands with vaccinated health care workers, and they will continue pushing this message throughout the draft  

But mandating players getting the vaccine was never, ever going to fly. I don't have to explain to you the resistance among many Americans—across party lines and across races—who for one reason or another do not wish to get the vaccine. (I am not one of those people and I encourage everyone reading this to get the vaccine, by the way!)

I don't think the league or the players union wants to be in a position where it mandates the vaccine to players, and both sides recognized it would be a fight not worth having. But mask and social-distancing rules will likely remain in place for those who are unvaccinated, which may very well encourage those folks to educate themselves further and get their shots.

One last thought

What is Chris Ballard waiting on? The Colts have more than $34 million in cap space, according to Spotrac, and they could still use a left tackle, an edge rusher or two and maybe another wide receiver.