Top 10 All-Time Fastest Players in the NFL

[YosemiteSam]

This type of data can be used for all kinds of things. Bo Jackson never ran a 4.12 forty, you're wrong. I'm sorry. Bo knows slow.

I've got no more use for this guy.

Bo Knows Tecmo Bowl

 

[cowboys2233]

I've got no more use for this guy.

Bo Knows Tecmo Bowl

Bo would not be pleased with your give-up attitude. You have disappointed Bo. :laugh2:

 

[AdamJT13]

Just an FYI. The 100M and 40YD are two different beasts and people train differently to run each. A man that is very fast out of the blocks can win a 40 yard dash while the guy slower out of the blocks but longer strides and a faster overall speed can win the 100M. You can't compare a mans 100M to his 40 times.

You do understand the difference between hand times and fully electronic timing, don't you?


Nobody in any track race EVER has run the first 10 meters in less than 1.69 seconds. Nobody has EVER run the second 10 meters in less than 1.00 seconds. Nobody has EVER run the third 10 meters in less than 0.89 seconds. And nobody has EVER run the next 6.576 meters in less than 0.57 seconds.

If one man was ever able to match the fastest start ever AND each of the next three fastest splits ever, all in one race, his 40-yard time would be 4.15 seconds. So far, nobody has ever done it in less than 4.18 seconds. Except of course, dozens of football players who don't even need starting blocks.

 

[dogberry]

Adam, if I assume Newman's splits are proportionate to Bolt's, is it safe to say that Newman runs a 4.40 forty (electronically timed)?

(10.2/9.69)=1.053

1.053*4.18=4.4015

 

[rynochop]

I remember Hershel racing Vince Coleman back in the day on some sports contest show. Coleman, one of the best base stealers in baseball history, had his doors blown off by him.

 

[Hostile]

I remember Hershel racing Vince Coleman back in the day on some sports contest show. Coleman, one of the best base stealers in baseball history, had his doors blown off by him.

I remember that. I think it was on Superstars.

 

[wick]

No, they had electronic timing and video back then. Hines set the world record with electronic timing, and nobody beat it for 15 years.

Perhaps technology from the standpoint of shoes and surfaces. How do these times break down by era? We know a 10.00 in 1960 doesn't mean the same as a 10.00 in 2000.

 

[joseephuss]

I remember Hershel racing Vince Coleman back in the day on some sports contest show. Coleman, one of the best base stealers in baseball history, had his doors blown off by him.

I remember that. I think it was on Superstars.

On Superstars they had a 100 yard dash. Coleman got scorched by every football player that was in that event. It is all relative. Coleman was fast by baseball standards of that era, but he was nothing compared to the fast football players of that era.

 

[DFWJC]

Which is ridiculous IMO. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry -- you think they might be able to afford the technology to make these combine times a little more legit. :laugh2:

lol
Well, of course, now they do use electronic timers at the combine. It is the older, non-combine times that are questionable.

 

[AdamJT13]

Adam, if I assume Newman's splits are proportionate to Bolt's, is it safe to say that Newman runs a 4.40 forty (electronically timed)?

(10.2/9.69)=1.053

1.053*4.18=4.4015

It probably would be slightly faster than that, based on Newman's 60-meter time of 6.62 seconds. Bolt's 60-meter split was 6.32 seconds (the world record in the indoor 60 is 6.39). Bolt's reaction time was 0.165, which gives him a 60-meter running time of 6.155 seconds. If Newman had the same reaction time (we don't know if he did), his running time would be 6.455 seconds. If we used the same proportions to Bolt, Newman's 40-yard time would be 4.39.

Based on that proportion (1.04874), we'd get these splits --

[B]Split		Bolt	Newman[/B]
0-10		1.685	1.767
10-20		1.02	1.070
20-30		0.91	0.954
30-36.576	0.57	.598
[B]40 YARDS	4.185	4.389[/B]
36.576-40	.30	.315
40-50		.85	.891
50-60		.82	.860
[B]60 METERS	6.155	6.455[/B]
[B]W/ RT (.165)	6.32	6.62[/B]

And keep in mind that Newman's 6.62 is tied for the fastest 60 I've ever found for an NFL player, and that 6.60 gets you on the world all-time list.

If Newman really did reach a 0.86 split from 50-60, then his time through 50 meters was 5.76 seconds, which would tie Darrell Green's PR in the 50 (the standard indoor sprint distance in the early 1980s). If Newman was slower than 0.86 from 50-60, then his 50-meter team was faster than Green's PR. And if Newman was faster than 0.86, then he was just .01 off the fastest split achieved by Asafa Powell when he set the world record in the 100, and just .02 off the fastest splits for Carl Lewis and steroid users Ben Johnson and Tim Montgomery when they set world records in the 100.

By the way, I found a 55-meter time for Rocket Ismail while he was at Notre Dame -- 6.07 seconds, which is tied with Carl Lewis for the 15th-fastest ever recorded for a U.S. college sprinter. Ismail also ran a 6.13, a 6.16, a 6.20 and a 6.22 in the 55. Ismail's PR in the 100 was only 10.34, but he definitely had elite speed for the first 55 meters.

 

[AdamJT13]

Well, of course, now they do use electronic timers at the combine.

The Combine uses a hand start. The runner goes when he chooses, and the person doing the timing reacts to his first movement. That cuts at least .10 off each "electronic" time at the Combine.