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Gunnar Helm battled through a badly-sprained ankle as he worked out for teams at the NFL Combine this week in Indianapolis, per a report.
That’s according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, who shared some photos of Helm’s ankle a couple days removed from his workouts in Indy. Per Rapoport, the Texas tight end suffered the injury during his 1st attempt at the 40-yard dash.
Helm ended up running a 4.84 second 40-yard dash. That’s not a very fast time for his position, but it wasn’t the worst amongst tight ends at this year’s combine, either. Given what we now know about this ankle injury, teams may view that time in a more positive light.
Here’s a clip from the 40-yard dash attempt that shows Helm spraining his ankle:
Unsurprisingly, the rest of Helm’s athletic testing didn’t go great, either:
The good news for Helm is that he has a clearly-legitimate reason for some of these numbers — something not many prospects have after under-performing at the Combine. The better news is that he will have an opportunity to improve upon these testing numbers at his pro day on March 26 — provided he’s healthy enough to run that day.
If Helm goes on Day 1 or Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft, he’d be the 1st Texas tight end to be picked before the 4th round since Jermichael Finley was a 3rd-round pick in 2008.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
