{"id":267489,"date":"2026-02-28T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T14:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=267489"},"modified":"2026-02-28T08:36:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T13:36:44","slug":"safety-standouts-from-day-2-of-the-nfl-combine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/02\/28\/safety-standouts-from-day-2-of-the-nfl-combine\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety Standouts From Day 2 of the NFL Combine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second day of the 2026 NFL Draft Combine had many tremendous performances<\/a>, including many great performances from top safety prospects. Here are five of the top standout NFL Draft safety prospects at the 2026 NFL Combine.<\/p>\n

Top Safety Standouts From Day 2 of the NFL Combine<\/h2>\n

S Lorenzo Styles Jr., Ohio State<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Feb 27, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Ohio State defensive back Lorenzo Styles (DB50) during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One day after his brother Sonny Styles<\/a> had one of the best combine performances for a linebacker, Lorenzo Styles Jr. had one of the best combine performances of any defensive back in the 2026 draft class. Styles demonstrated elite speed with a 4.27 40-yard dash time. It was the first sub-4.30 40-yard dash time of the combine this year, and is also now the fastest 40-yard dash time from a safety at the NFL Combine since at least 2003. On top of a record-breaking 40 time, Styles also recorded a 39-inch vertical jump, which was good for fourth-best among all safeties at the combine.<\/span><\/p>\n

S Dillon Thieneman, Oregon<\/h3>\n

Dillon Thieneman ran an elite 4.35 40-yard dash time. He also had the second-best vertical jump of any safety at the combine with a 41-inch vertical jump and a great 10-foot-5 broad jump. Thieneman is an experienced safety and a fluid and explosive athlete. He is a projected second-round pick, but after a great performance at the combine, he certainly could have a chance to be selected on Day 1 of the draft. He scored an unofficial 9.67 relative athletic score<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dillon Thieneman Scouting Report<\/a><\/p>\n

S Bud Clark, TCU<\/h3>\n

Bud Clark is a safety who has incredible movement skills, and he tested very well at the combine. Clark ran a 4.41 40-yard dash time and finished with both a top-five vertical jump and broad jump. He recorded a 38-inch vertical and 10-foot-7 broad jump. Clark is an experienced player with great ball skills and top-tier athletic ability, finishing the combine with an unofficial 9.32 relative athletic score<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

S Jalon Kilgore, South Carolina<\/h3>\n

Jalon Kilgore scored a top-tier 9.97 unofficial relative athletic score<\/a> at the combine. Kilgore is a safety with good size at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds. He had the best broad jump among safeties this year with a 10-foot-10 broad jump. Along with the best board jump at the position, he also finished in the top five in the 40-yard dash with a time of 4.40 seconds, and had a very good 37-inch vertical jump. Kilgore is a strong, versatile defensive back with good ball skills and great athletic upside. Kilgore is projected to be a late Day 2 or early Day 3 pick in the draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

S VJ Payne, Kansas State<\/h3>\n

VJ Payne is a 6-foot-3, 206-pound safety who also ran one of the fastest 40-yard dash times among safeties at the combine. He ran a 4.40 40-yard dash time and recorded a 10-foot-7 broad jump. He also has elite arm length, measuring in at 33 3\/4-inch arm length. Payne is an experienced safety with good size and tremendous length, along with great speed. Payne scored an unofficial 9.86 relative athletic score<\/a>\u00a0and is projected to be an early Day 3 pick in the draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo: Ben Lonergan\/The Register-Guard \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Day 2 of the combine there were many safety prospects who had great performances. Here are the top safety standouts at the NFL Combine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5467,"featured_media":266139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[33533,33865,1900,34196],"class_list":["post-267489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-dillon-thieneman","tag-nfl-combine","tag-vj-payne"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5467"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267489"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267555,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267489\/revisions\/267555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}