Adidas Promises an Island, to NFL Prospect Who Breaks 40-yard Dash Record in Their Shoes at the Combine

Presenting NFL players who display award-winning and MVP-like performances with a car has trended with sponsors over the years. However, this year Adidas has proposed to give the man who breaks the NFL Combine record for the 40-yard dash, in a pair of their shoes, something a lot bigger than just a car.

According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, Adidas has offered these islands to anyone who breaks the record in a pair of their shoes:

adidas offering an island (up to $1M cost) for player at combine who beats Chris Johnson’s 4.24 40 in its shoes. Possible islands to win pic.twitter.com/01c1EbyNAG

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 27, 2017

Adidas has made breaking the 40-yard dash record great again in a lot of ways. Mainly, by offering a lot of really lucrative rewards to those who smash Chris Johnson’s 9-year-old record.

According to The Comeback, “In 2013, if someone broke the record, they’d win an Adidas endorsement. In 2014, the fastest time earned someone $100,000, with each of the top three fastest players winning that cash total in 2015. Last year, they offered up a million bucks to anyone who could beat the record, which obviously didn’t happen.”

Given that players were not sufficiently motivated to break the record by the offer of a million dollars, or by winning an endorsement, Adidas obviously thought it was time to make things more interesting.

Now, some catches remain. The shoes that Adidas specially makes for running the 40-yard dash cost $150. An afterthought to someone making an NFL salary, however, at the time of the combine these players aren’t making an NFL salary yet, which could prove problematic for some.

Also, Adidas does not mention providing the winning player/players with a boat so they can actually get out to their island. Not a minor detail to most island owners. There’s also the issue of relative lack of tree growth on the islands in the top-left and bottom-right of Rovell’s tweet, which makes an island get-away party difficult when trying to keep it away from the prying eyes of the media.

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn