How fast is a good 3-cone drill time?

Set three cones 5 yards apart in a right angle: cone 1 at the start, cone 2 five yards straight ahead, cone 3 five yards to the side of cone 2. The shape is an L, which is where the name L drill comes from.

• Start in a three-point stance at cone 1.
• Sprint to cone 2, touch the ground, and sprint back to cone 1 and touch the ground again.
• Sprint back to cone 2 and go around the outside of it.
• Weave inside cone 3, come around the outside of cones 3 and 2, and finish at cone 1.

That is the route NFL.com describes for the Combine. The junior college study below used the same route, started players in a three-point stance just behind the start line so they would trigger a single timing gate, and placed an observer at each cone to check the touches.

The high school study reports a mean and standard deviation for each of three state groups: 7.9 s, 8.0 s and 7.9 s, each with an SD of 0.6 s. Using 7.9 s and assuming a normal distribution gives the estimated cutoffs below. A position-by-position normative report from the same combines, which calls the drill the 3-cone, was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, but its tables are not openly available.

In the junior college study, both the skill and big-skill groups were 8% faster than the linemen, which the authors rated a very large effect. We did not find published 3-cone norms for women.

Averages by position for every recorded Combine 3-cone from 2003 to 2025, 4,360 times in all. The last column is the 10th percentile: one in ten players at that position ran that time or faster. The median across all positions was 7.18 s.

Players can skip the agility drills, so these averages describe the ones who ran. Quarterbacks average the same 3-cone as linebackers and run it faster than tight ends, though their average 40-yard dash is slower than both.

Jordan Thomas, an Oklahoma cornerback, ran 6.28 s at the 2018 Combine. ESPN lists it as the record. The previous best was Oregon wide receiver Jeff Maehl's 6.42 s from 2011. Thomas was a sixth-round pick of the Houston Texans.

The two Combine agility tests rank players almost the same way. In 1,136 NFL draftees from the 2005–2009 Combines, 3-cone and 20-yard shuttle times correlated at r = 0.948. Their correlations with the sprints and jumps were generally much weaker (r from 0.250 to −0.653), which suggests change of direction is a separate skill from straight-line speed. The author concluded that either test is likely enough on its own. See the 5-10-5 shuttle times for the other test.

The 3-cone rewards tight turns and a fast first step out of each one.

• Before the first touch, shorten your steps over the last two yards so you can plant and come back without drifting.
• Touch with the hand nearest the cone and keep your hips low through the change of direction.
• Around cone 2, lean into the turn and keep your inside shoulder close to the cone.
• Look to the next cone before you reach the current one.
• Run the last leg to cone 1 as a straight sprint through the finish.

Swinging wide around the cones

Every extra foot of radius is extra distance. Stay tight and lean in instead of running a wide arc.

Standing up after the touches

Rising tall after each touch slows the next acceleration. Keep your chest over your knees for two steps.

Skipping a touch

In the junior college study, observers at each cone checked the touches. Practice touching the ground every rep.

Learning the route on test day

Walk it, then jog it, then run it at full speed in practice until the turns are automatic.

Strength and acceleration carry over to every leg of the drill. See how to get faster for football and plyometrics for sprinters.