For years, the ‘Run Rich Run’ segment has be the grand finale of the NFL Scouting Combine. Rich Eisen, the lead anchor for the NFL Network’s Combine coverage, took center stage. In 2005, Eisen turned a silly idea into one of the most-anticipated charity gestures known in the sports world.
Eisen has ended the Combine by running a 40-yard dash of his own in the past 21 years. During a long weekend of the best soon-to-be NFL rookies testing, performing and interviewing, the now 56-year-old TV host goes out and gives it his best for charity. Except this year will be different.
During an event where even large men over 6’5 and over 300 pounds still run 40s in the low 5 second range. It is not unheard of for the worst time at the combine to still be under 5.5 seconds. Rich began this tradition by running a 6.77 forty in 2005. Since then, he’s always been in the low 6’s. In 2014, Rich finally got under six seconds with a 5.98 while 2016 was his personal best of 5.94.
Why does Eisen put himself through this? To help sick children. Which he has said on many occasions is the best help a person can give. “Run Rich Run” has raised over $7M for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
In that time, Run Rich Run has become a viral sensation with regular people that work regular jobs taking time out to film and run their own forties. Many of whom are not athletes or have not been athletes for a very long time.
Run Rich Run is moving to a new venue
The event that had become known as a mainstay in the combine and something fans look forward to, will not be televised as part of the combine festivities. While this may come as a shock to many, it is completely understandable.
A question many have asked is how long can Eisen keep running these forties? He is 56 years old and is the epitome of a regular human, physically speaking. The Run Rich Run event is not going away, it will not be behind a pay wall and this change ensures Eisen can keep doing this longer.
The basic reasoning that Eisen explained during this year’s Combine is quite simply he’s getting old. Up until this scheduling change, Eisen was expected to do upwards of eight plus hours sitting at a desk. Then he would have about 10-15 minutes to warm up before running the forty.
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He explained that just isn’t conducive for a quality run and quality charity event. Instead Run Rich Run will now be conducted as part of the NFL Draft and take place about two months after the Combine.
The only pressing question now is, without the immediate turnaround time and controlled environment, does Rich Eisen have a Combine appropriate forty time in him? A 5.3-5.5 forty time? The only way to find out is to tune in for the NFL Draft on April 23-25, 2026.
If you would like to donate to Run Rich Run or provide any additional support for the event, you can go to the official St. Jude Run Rich Run website.
