Who is the fastest player in the NFL: John Ross or Tyreek Hill?
By Matt Conner
Bengals QB Andy Dalton says that Cincinnati has the fastest guy in the NFL in John Ross. But where does that leave Tyreek Hill?
Let’s hand it to him, John Ross played the pre-draft process perfectly. The University of Washington wide receiver turned in a record-setting performance at the NFL Combine with a 40-yard dash of 4.22 seconds that broke Chris Johnson’s longtime mark and an overall performance that catapulted him to the top-tier wideout conversation. From there, he stayed out of trouble, turned in a solid all-around performance and found himself as a top 10 pick when the 2017 NFL Draft rolled around. Now, the Cincinnati Bengals are excited about what Ross will add to their offense.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton praised the addition of Ross from OTAs earlier this week and even mentioned that Cincy now boasts the “fastest guy in the NFL.”
"“We’ve got the fastest guy in the NFL,” Dalton said. “Obviously that’s a good thing to have. Teams will have to know where he is because of that speed. It may level out some of these safeties who are tilting toward A.J. [Green]. Now when you’ve got a guy who can run like he can, you’ve got a big threat going deep.”"
It’s a logical conclusion to draw given his blistering 40-yard dash, but there’s a big difference between straight sprint speed and game speed, between running in glorified underwear and wearing pads, between training for a specific distance and turning on the burners in the chaos of a game. Certainly no one would question whether or not the Bengals added one of the fastest players in the NFL. But the fastest?
For that, we have to jump to Kansas City, who added the legitimate leader in that category last season in the fifth round with Tyreek Hill. The Chiefs returner/receiver had the two fastest recorded times in the NFL this season with DeSean Jackson coming in third. Let’s take a look.
The fastest time recorded last year was Hill at over 23 miles per hour (23.24 to be exact) against the San Diego Chargers on a 105-yard kick return that was nullified due to a penalty. Take a look:
The second time came 10 weeks later against another division rival, the Denver Broncos, on another kick return, this time an 86-yard TD return that was measured at 22.77 mph.