Mario Alford caught Bengals' eye with blazing pro day times

With their final pick in the 2015 NFL draft, the Bengals selected West Virginia wide receiver Mario Alford.

The 5'8", 180-pound receiver caught 65 passes for 945 yards and a Big 12-leading 11 scores. But it wasn't exactly what he did statistically on the field that caught the Bengals' attention.

No, it was the blazing speed displayed at Alford's pro day, as ESPN's Coley Harvey writes:

One member of the Bengals' scouting party who was there said the team was most impressed with the way he performed during a series of 40-yard sprints. By the end of them, the Bengals convinced themselves if Alford was on the big board in the later rounds, they had to pounce on him.

The 40-time Alford recorded that caught everyone's attention was a 4.25 second run. Even Alford admitted that was the fastest 40 he's ever recorded.

It's safe to say Alford picked a good time to have one of the best performances of his life, even if it had nothing to do with a football game. If the Bengals were willing to take Alford in the seventh round based on his pro day performance, it seems safe to think he could have gone undrafted without that showing.