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Broad jump record, and what counts as a good broad jump

The Combine and world record, average broad jumps for high school, college and women athletes, every NFL Combine position group, and what the jump tells you about sprint speed.

The broad jump record is Byron Jones's 12 ft 3 in from the 2015 NFL Combine. High school football players average about 246 cm (8 ft 1 in), and NFL Combine position averages run from 8 ft 7 in for offensive linemen to 10 ft 2 in for defensive backs.

The broad jump, also called the standing long jump, measures how far you can push yourself forward from a standstill. Coaches use it as a quick field measure of horizontal leg power.

Broad jump record

At the 2015 NFL Combine, UConn cornerback Byron Jones jumped 12 ft 3 in (147 in). ESPN lists it as the Combine record and notes that it beat the previous Combine best by 8 inches. NFL.com reported at the time that it was believed to break the standing long jump world record of 12 ft 2 in, set by Norway's Arne Tvervaag on November 11, 1968, though nothing had been made official.

The closest anyone has come since is Texas Tech safety Tyler Owens, who jumped 146 in (12 ft 2 in) at the 2024 Combine.

Average broad jump

Average standing broad jump by group. Mean ± SD where published; NFL figures are the range of position-group averages, 2003–2025.
GroupAverageWho was measured
High school football246 cm (8 ft 1 in)About 7,000 players, mostly freshmen to juniors, at U.S. recruiting combines in 2015–16; SD 27–28 cm
Junior college football: wide receivers and defensive backs2.72 m (8 ft 11 in)31 players from one program; SD 0.23 m
Junior college football: quarterbacks, running backs, tight end and linebackers2.56 m (8 ft 5 in)18 players from one program; SD 0.27 m
Junior college football: offensive and defensive linemen2.35 m (7 ft 9 in)13 players from one program; SD 0.28 m
NCAA D1 women's basketball1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)12 players, one team; SD 0.15 m
NCAA D1 women's volleyball2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)15 players, one team; SD 0.26 m
NFL Combine8 ft 7 in to 10 ft 2 inPosition-group averages, offensive linemen shortest, defensive backs longest

Outside sport, the best lifespan data we found comes from 1,620 people in the Zurich region of Switzerland tested between 1983 and 2023. Standing long jump distance peaked between ages 20 and 25, and it was the one motor task where males performed much better than females.

NFL Combine broad jump by position

Averages by position for every recorded Combine broad jump from 2003 to 2025, 5,703 jumps in all. The last column is the 90th percentile: one in ten players at that position jumped that far or farther. The median across all positions was 116 in (9 ft 8 in).

NFL Combine broad jump by position, 2003–2025, in inches. Computed from the Pro Football Reference combine data.
PositionAverageTop 10%Jumps
Defensive backs122.2 in 10 ft 2 in130 in 10 ft 10 in1,092
Wide receivers121.6 in 10 ft 2 in129 in 10 ft 9 in866
Running backs118.9 in 9 ft 11 in126 in 10 ft 6 in538
Linebackers117.7 in 9 ft 10 in126 in 10 ft 6 in666
Tight ends116.2 in 9 ft 8 in124 in 10 ft 4 in316
Quarterbacks111.6 in 9 ft 4 in121 in 10 ft 1 in315
Defensive line111.5 in 9 ft 4 in122 in 10 ft 2 in940
Offensive line103.1 in 8 ft 7 in112 in 9 ft 4 in970

Defensive backs and wide receivers jump farthest on average and offensive linemen the shortest, nearly the same order as the 40-yard dash by position. Defensive linemen and quarterbacks average almost the same jump.

What counts as a good broad jump

The high school study reports a mean and standard deviation only. Assuming a normal distribution, those numbers give the estimated cutoffs below for high school football players.

High school football combine athletes: estimated broad jump cutoffs (normal approximation from the published mean and SD).
PercentileEstimated distance
Longest 10%282 cm (9 ft 3 in)
Longest 25%265 cm (8 ft 8 in)
Median246 cm (8 ft 1 in)
Shortest 25% from227 cm (7 ft 5 in)

For a college football player, clearing 10 ft puts you near the Combine averages for skill positions, and 10 ft 10 in or more puts you in the top 10% of defensive backs who jumped there.

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What your broad jump says about sprint speed

Several studies have measured how closely the broad jump tracks sprinting. The links are real but vary with the athlete.

  • Elite sprinters: in 14 male sprinters tested up to 18 days before 100m competitions, horizontal jump distance correlated at r = −0.81 with race time. Longer jumpers ran faster.
  • NFL draftees: in 1,136 players from the 2005–2009 Combines, both the broad jump and the vertical jump were more strongly associated with the longer sprint distances than with the short splits.
  • Youth soccer: in 826 elite players aged under 14 to under 19, the standing broad jump correlated at r = 0.68 with maximum sprint speed. It explained 39.1% of the variation in top speed among under-14s but only 9.8% among under-19s.
  • D1 women's basketball: in 12 players, broad jump distance alone did not correlate significantly with the 10 m sprint, but broad jump relative to body mass did (r = −0.628).

The soccer study's authors put the weaker link in older players down to sprint technique and mechanics playing a bigger part. A correlation also doesn't prove that adding inches to your jump will take time off your sprint. For the training side, see how to be more explosive and plyometrics for sprinters.

How to measure and improve your broad jump

At the NFL Combine, players jump forward from a standing position without a first step. The high school combine study measured from the start line to the closest heel at landing. In the junior college study, players put their toes behind the line, used a free arm swing and crouch, had to land on both feet for the jump to count, and kept the better of two jumps.

  • Swing both arms back as you hinge at the hips, then throw them forward and up as you jump.
  • Push through the whole foot and finish the jump with your hips, knees and ankles fully extended.
  • Pull your knees up and reach your heels forward before landing.
  • Land soft on both feet with your weight forward so you don't sit back.
Falling back on the landing
Distance is measured to your rearmost heel, and in the junior college study a jump without a clean two-foot landing didn't count. Land with your chest over your knees.
Jumping too high
A jump that goes mostly up lands short. Aim out, with your eyes ahead of the landing spot.
No arm swing
A stiff upper body leaves distance on the floor. Practice the swing until it times with the hip drive.
Stepping into the jump
A shuffle or step before takeoff is not allowed at the Combine. Start still with both feet set.

FAQ

Sources

  1. Fischer B. UConn's Byron Jones breaks combine, world broad jump marks. NFL.com, 2015
  2. ESPN. Who holds the record for each NFL combine drill? February 27, 2026
  3. Gillen ZM, Shoemaker ME, McKay BD, Cramer JT. State population influences athletic performance combine test scores in high school-aged American football players. Int J Exerc Sci 12(6), 2019 (Table 1)
  4. Lockie RG et al. Profiling of junior college football players and differences between position groups. Sports (Basel) 4(3):41, 2016 (Table 3)
  5. Banda DS, Beitzel MM, Kammerer JD, Salazar I, Lockie RG. Lower-body power relationships to linear speed, change-of-direction speed, and high-intensity running performance in DI collegiate women's basketball players. J Hum Kinet 68, 2019
  6. Lockie RG, Dawes JJ, Callaghan SJ. Lower-body power, linear speed, and change-of-direction speed in Division I collegiate women's volleyball players. Biol Sport 37(4), 2020 (Table 1)
  7. Kakebeeke TH et al. Neuromotor functions across the lifespan: percentiles from 6 to 80 years. Front Aging Neurosci 17, 2025
  8. nflverse, NFL Combine results dataset (data courtesy of Pro Football Reference), 2003–2025 combines
  9. Brandt G. What does the combine data mean? Depends on your position. NFL.com (drill descriptions)
  10. Loturco I et al. Vertical and horizontal jump tests are strongly associated with competitive performance in 100-m dash events. J Strength Cond Res 29(7), 2015
  11. Robbins DW. Relationships between National Football League combine performance measures. J Strength Cond Res 26(1), 2012
  12. Škorik M, Švantner R, Brűnn D, Karabin L. The relationship between standing broad jump and 30-meter sprint in 826 youth soccer players: a cross-sectional study. J Strength Cond Res 40(5), 2026