NFL's Fastest Players

[Aerolithe_Lion]

Hayes began to make his mark on the NFL as soon as he arrived: He
led the league with 21.8 yards per catch in his rookie season,
and he sustained that career average of 20 yards per reception, a
figure few players even approach nowadays for a single season.
The zone defense had existed in the NFL before his arrival, but
it was crude by today's standards, and Hayes could destroy that
kind of coverage the same way he did man-to-man alignments. So
coaches came up with a double zone to try to control him. A
cornerback would play him tight as he came off the line--in those
days defenders could do anything they wanted to a receiver,
except grab and hold--and another defensive back would pick him up
deep. Or coaches would assign the deepest defensive back, usually
the free safety, to make sure he stayed behind Hayes, which
opened up vast areas underneath. No other player caused that kind
of strategic overhaul of the defensive game.

https://www.si.com/vault/2002/09/30...re-were-demons-in-life-that-he-couldnt-outrun

I think we sometimes forget that in the days of Bob Hayes rules were very much different as pointed out in this article. WR were mauled down the field and it was perfectly legal. There was no 5 yard bump rule

He was a great deep threat, no one ever disputed that

 

[Sydla]

He’s the most recent comparison to Bob Hayes, either him or the ill-advised nanny.

In terms of raw speed or production?

 

[Doomsday101]

He was a great deep threat, no one ever disputed that

Of course but he changed the game. Many teams would look to these sprinters but few had football talent to run routs and make the catch. Speed does you no good if you can't manage to hold on to the football. As Hayes said he was a football player who happened to be a sprinter.

 

[csirl]

I remember watching a Rams v Falcons game in 1989 - Deions rookie season. Olympic gold medalist Ron Brown was the Rams kick returner. Brown got clear on a return, but Deion chased him down from behind.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

In terms of raw speed or production?

production and speed relation to his peers, nobody is disputing Hayes ability as a sprinter. But how well did that translate onto the field compared to other players. He's definitely top 5 all time, but does that automatically mean he was the fastest ever on the field? Not necessarily.

 

[OmerV]

DBs played both on Hayes with safety help over the top, and they played off him too. As they do with all receivers. If the only played way off, he could cut inside for 5-8 catches every drive, which is nonsense. Of course the corners had to be in position to stop that.

But when he did get them, that’s a half second every 40 yards. That’s what is insinuated, a pro vs high school guys. Think about that. Two people at full sprint, how many body lengths would one guy be if he was a half a second further than the other? It was never like that. He beat them with his speed a few times a game, as do many deep threats throughout nfl history.

And every deep threat gets a cushion like that. Desean Jackson had safeties routinely lining up 30-40 yards downfield to make sure he didn’t go by.

That was part of the point of developing and advancing the zone defenses. Prior to that they had to pick their poison - either give up a huge cushion and concede the shorter passes, which Hayes still could take to the house if he made a move and broke free, or play up and risk Hayes blowing past the DB. The point of the zone defense was to find a way to use the entire defense to cover the whole field so the team didn't have to make that choice.

The funny thing here is it seems you are saying teams dealt with Hayes the same way teams deal with speed now - that you are disputing the well known fact that zone defenses came into common use to combat Bob Hayes. That's really not something that is questioned.

As for your comments about Desean Jackson, again you are trying to argue as if I'm saying Hayes is the only player the NFL has had with elite speed. I am not, and have not. I don't in any way dispute that Jackson has been one of the premier deep threats in the NFL. And the fact is, despite teams knowing that, at his peak he still frequently blew past defenses to get open deep. That's what Hayes did, but to an even greater degree because he was playing in an era where defenses hadn't yet adjusted to dealing with that kind of speed. He is the guy who forced teams to make that adjustment.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

The funny thing here is it seems you are saying teams dealt with Hayes the same way teams deal with speed now - that you are disputing the well known fact that zone defenses came into use to combat Bob Hayes. That's really not something that is questioned.

Never disputed that. More words in my mouth.

As for your comments about Desean Jackson, again you are trying to argue as if I'm saying Hayes is the only player the NFL has had with elite speed.

No I didn't, I know you know tons of players are considered fast. I'm putting no words in your mouth.

If you don't understand my point, just admit it. But repeatedly incorrectly guessing at it will just go on forever. I never said either of these things.

 

[fredp22]

1 Hayes- never timed in 40 but ran a 5.28 60
2 Greene ran hand timed 4.09
3 Bo ran 4.12

Deion ran a 4.57 backwards

 

[OmerV]

Never disputed that. More words in my mouth.



No I didn't, I know you know tons of players are considered fast. I'm putting no words in your mouth.

If you don't understand my point, just admit it. But repeatedly incorrectly guessing at it will just go on forever. I never said either of these things.

So, how do you justify saying Hayes didn't seem to frequently break away from defenses and at the same time admit he forced teams to use and develop zone defenses to prevent him from breaking away from their defenses? Are you arguing that teams felt compelled to try and prevent something that wasn't even happening?

And of course you are trying to argue that with your comments about Jackson. There would be no point in bringing up Jackson otherwise. You are using Jackson to argue a point that is not in contention.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

So, how do you justify saying Hayes didn't seem to frequently break away from defenses and at the same time admit he forced teams to use and develop zone defenses to prevent him from breaking away from their defenses? Are you arguing that teams felt compelled to try and prevent something that wasn't even happening?

And of course you are trying to argue that with your comments about Jackson. There would be no point in bringing up Jackson otherwise. You are using Jackson to argue a point that is not in contention.

Jackson was just to show that maybe Hayes was the first to acquire those special defensive alignments, but it happened throughout the decades and is even happening now. That singular point doesn’t necessarily prove he’s the best in any sense (even though he is).

But the main point you keep coming back to is I never said he didn’t frequently break away from defenders. I said he didn’t ALWAYS do it, as nobody does. The point of me bringing up something like that is someone earlier insinuated he was the fastest ever because he was the fastest ever off the field. That doesn’t translate apples to apples. Maybe he ran on the field like a 4.3 guy. Maybe he ran like a 4.2 guy even. But if he really were running in the 3.90’s, the defensive shift would have had to be so drastic that the other side of the field would be completely open for all other receivers on every play. It’d be a corner on him, a safety 10 yards deep, and 2 more safeties at midfield because he’d blown by everyone regardless of their head start.

I’m trying to dispel an extreme opinion that he was the same in gear and under pressure as he was in gym shorts, when technically he wasn’t even statistically the most prolific deep threat of his era (even though I’ve said a few times now he still was the best, even alluding to it in that comment on the front page).

 

[GMO415]

Doesn’t say that anywhere. Bullet Bob Hayes was the greatest deep threat of his generation, and one of the greatest of all time. To say he can’t get separation is wrong, and for you to proclaim I ever said he never got separation is just you lying to try and win an argument.

I said he never had sub-4.00 separation, because he didn’t play as fast on the football field as he did on track in gym shorts, as most guys don’t. Some play equally as fast, and a select few play even faster, like Darrell Green as many cowboys fans in this thread have admitted to.

running past your opponent counts as separation....hahaha

 

[OmerV]

Jackson was just to show that maybe Hayes was the first to acquire those special defensive alignments, but it happened throughout the decades and is even happening now. That singular point doesn’t necessarily prove he’s the best in any sense (even though he is).

But the main point you keep coming back to is I never said he didn’t frequently break away from defenders. I said he didn’t ALWAYS do it, as nobody does. The point of me bringing up something like that is someone earlier insinuated he was the fastest ever because he was the fastest ever off the field. That doesn’t translate apples to apples. Maybe he ran on the field like a 4.3 guy. Maybe he ran like a 4.2 guy even. But if he really were running in the 3.90’s, the defensive shift would have had to be so drastic that the other side of the field would be completely open for all other receivers on every play. It’d be a corner on him, a safety 10 yards deep, and 2 more safeties at midfield because he’d blown by everyone regardless of their head start.

I’m trying to dispel an extreme opinion that he was the same in gear and under pressure as he was in gym shorts, when technically he wasn’t even statistically the most prolific deep threat of his era (even though I’ve said a few times now he still was the best, even alluding to it in that comment on the front page).

I never said Hayes was the best, I said for his time he presented a greater mismatch in speed than any player in history, and I said he did, in fact, break away from defenses So frequently that opponents felt they had to develop defensive schemes specifically to handle his speed.

And I never said anything about him being as fast in gym shorts as in football pads. That’s not true of anyone, and it’s irrelevant anyway because defenders are also slower in pads than gym shorts, so it’s not as if running in pads evened things out.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

running past your opponent counts as separation....hahaha

Agreed

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

I never said Hayes was the best, I said for his time he presented a greater mismatch in speed than any player in history, and I said he did, in fact, break away from defenses So frequently that opponents felt they had to develop defensive schemes specifically to handle his speed.

And I never said anything about him being as fast in gym shorts as in football pads. That’s not true of anyone, and it’s irrelevant anyway because defenders are also slower in pads than gym shorts, so it’s not as if running in pads evened things out.

I said he was the best. And I, along with others don’t agree he had the greatest speed mismatch in nfl history.

 

[OmerV]

I said he was the best. And I, along with others don’t agree he had the greatest speed mismatch in nfl history.

We will have to agree to disagree on that then. His per catch average supports the idea that he did, and the fact that track stars were not commonly participating in the NFL at that time also supports that idea. Even if they were, how many world record holding sprinters have competed in the NFL at all, much less at that time?

I know - he wasn't as fast in pads as he was in gym shorts, but again, that applies to every football player, not just Hayes, so that would not even out the field.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

We will have to agree to disagree on that then. His per catch average supports the idea that he did, and the fact that track stars were not commonly participating in the NFL at that time also supports that idea. Even if they were, how many world record holding sprinters have competed in the NFL at all, much less at that time?

I know - he wasn't as fast in pads as he was in gym shorts, but again, that applies to every football player, not just Hayes, so that would not even out the field.

I don’t like the yards per catch enforcement, because he wasn’t even the best in his era in that regard.

 

[timb2]

I honestly think Darrell Green might be the fastest player to ever play football

Bo Jackson beat Darrell Green's forty when at the combine. I believe Green was a 4.19 and Jackson was a 4.10 at their different year combines. Back then it was called the "Blesto Combine"