I see what you are saying. Do you think he could have covered Bullet Bob Hayes? (who was a track star).
It's always difficult to compare. I don't have a forty time for Hayes or a 100 time for Deion, but based on watching game footage I would say that Deion would have had no problem covering Hayes.
Deion played in a era where the overall speed and athleticism was better than it was in Hayes era. Despite that, I've never seen anybody really challenge Deion speed-wise in all the games that I've seen. WRs like Irvin did challenge him in football, because Deion had some issues with Irvin's size and strength, but I just didn't see anybody really challenge him in pure speed situations.
It wasn't just Deion's speed that made him great, but he had unbelievable agility while running full speed and he could stop and start on a dime. Some of those returns that he had showed unmatched athleticism, IMO.
Bo Jackson is the only football player that I consider to possibly be a better overall athlete than Deion and that is primarily because he had near-Deion speed while outweighing Deion by 30+ pounds. I still remember vividly the 1st time that I ever saw Bo break a baseball bat like it was a toothpick. Also, seeing him run over Brian Bosworth like he was a little school girl was fun as well.