What is the average 100m time for Wide Receivers in the NFL?

It's embarassing when track people try to dismiss other sports. GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEADS, THE BEST ATHLETES WE HAVE IN THIS COUNTRY PLAY FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL. If the money was there in track we would have 100 guys sub 10. It's not so we don't. We have the people who weren't good enough to play football or basketball.

Average NFL wide reciever could run 10.50 right now.

I'd move it to about 10.7 but Reynolds is right.

You lost at implying some receivers run 11.6h, a bad varsity 100m time in some parts of the US.

Watch the combine 40 yard dashes featuring draft prospects from 1st rounders to possible undrafted free agents, yeah they might lose speed but watching the raw explosion and top speed you cant possibly make a case for saying the vast majority of them dont run sub-11.

I'm thinking Michael Phelps Blend

WiT is dumb asks:

What are you smoking WiT?

I recently ran into a video of Buffalo Bills wide receiver and Olympian Marquise Goodwin running the 60 meter sprint at the Milrose Games earlier this year. (Side note: Goodwin finished 10th in the long jump at the London Games, and tried out again in 2016, but failed to make the USA Olympic team) Of course, that race was won by Andre De Grasse in a time of 6.61s, while Goodwin finished 6th with a time of 6.68. Goodwin had a lead on De Grasse over the first 20m, after which De Grasse clawed back to win it. Not that it's surprising to hear that professional sprinters pulled on a football player after the first few meters.

But nonetheless, it got me thinking. Marquise Goodwin did not intend to leave the NFL to be an Olympian, and hence, he did not have a track coach training him. He was working with a strength and conditioning coach at the Buffalo Bills' facilities. The men he ran against were all professional sprinters, who had been training specifically to run the 60, 100 and 200 meter sprints for years. Goodwin has been spending his time focused on catching passes and running precise routes. And yet, Andre De Grasse, the man who won the bronze medal in the 100m in Rio only put 0.07s on him over 60 meters.

Admittedly, Goodwin was as fast or faster than anyone out there for the first 30 meters, after which the sprinters showed Goodwin why they are sprinters and he plays in the NFL. And I'm sure that De Grasse would have put another 0.43s on Goodwin if the race had been over 100m, assuming De Grasse was in 10.0x shape at the time, to beat the wide receiver by 0.50s. Goodwin ran a 10.57 100m in Atlanta in 2016.

So if an NFL strength and conditioning coach get a wide receiver to run 6.7 and 10.6, how fast could Goodwin have run if he retired from football after his Texas Tech days and devoted his energy to sprinting? His personal bests put him with elite company. By these, I would think Goodwin could have been a 6.5x/10.0x/20.5x guy. And for those who don't know, PAT is partially automatic timing, hand started, laser finish, and about 0.10s slower than hand times.

Long Jump: 27 feet 8.75 inches

40 yard dash: 4.27s (PAT)

60 meter dash: 6.67s (FAT)

100 meter dash: 10.38s (FAT, 10.24s w/2.2m/s wind)

200 meter dash: 21.24s (FAT)

Of course, when the Olympics didn't work out, and Goodwin turned 100% of his focus to the turf again, we've seen several long touchdown catch-and-runs from him this season. But some other players, like Darrius Heyward Bey or Ted Ginn Jr, seem to demonstrate similar wheels on the field. And while all these guys are much faster than the average NFL wide receiver, how fast are the fastest guys in the NFL over 60, 100 and 200 meters? And how fast are the Olympians over 40 yards?

Football players have always focused on acceleration (in multi directions) while sprinters split their time working on straight ahead acceleration and max velocity. Some olympic lifters are also as fast as sprinters over 30 meters.

Each American football team can field a 4x100 team that can run under 40 seconds with the potential for under 39.

I find it remarkable that Darrell Green ran a 4.43 at the age of 50.

Here is Walter Dix supposedly running a 3.75 in spikes on a track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMNDtq4jq2I

Darrell Green was a phenomenal athlete. He was a 10.08/20.48/45.90 guy in the sprints, and no doubt when he was in college he could have run the 40 in the 4.20-30 range.

That Walter Dix clip must have been hand timed though. He's not even one of the top three sprinters in the USA, but running half a second faster over 40 yards than the NFL's all time fastest electronically timed 40s. Cool clip, but no way no how.

This article addresses the topic well

Note. With the interest in DK Metcalf's 100 this weekend, I've merged two past NFL related threads into one. The 2nd thread was from 2016 and entitled, "How Fast Are the NFL's Fastest in the Short Sprints?"

Here is an article on Metcalf.

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/05/10-5ish-if-he-has-a-good-race-ato-boldon-assesses-dk-metcalfs-100-meter-chances-at-the-usatf-golden-games/

Robert Woods is a top receiver. He has PRs of 21.04 for 200m, and 46.17 for 400m (also a 45.8 400m relay split). There doesn't seem to be a 100m time for him but he did run on his high school 4x100m relay team.

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Athlete.aspx?AID=694576

Dixon Hurbut wrote:

9.95

Is there a name that goes with that time?

Jeff Demps ran 10.01 but his career NFL stats are 14 yards rushing and 21 yards receiving. He was not much of a player, and such guys shouldn't be in consideration for fastest. Guys like Demps prove that fastest runner does not equate to a good NFL career.

Fastest nfl player is Raheem Mostert. The stats don’t lie as far as his top speeds on the field in pads and he ran a 6.63 60 in college.

https://www.49erswebzone.com/articles/140084-49ers-raheem-mostert-breaks-record-reaches-80-yard-score/

Dennis Reynolds wrote:

It's embarassing when track people try to dismiss other sports. GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEADS, THE BEST ATHLETES WE HAVE IN THIS COUNTRY PLAY FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL. If the money was there in track we would have 100 guys sub 10. It's not so we don't. We have the people who weren't good enough to play football or basketball.

Average NFL wide reciever could run 10.50 right now.

“Over 60% of 2019 NFL Draft Picks Participated in High School Track & Field”

How many of them have you heard of?

I’d say the 25-75% for a football player is like 10.50 - 10.85.

25 % being faster than 10.5

25% being slower than 10.85

Avg being 10.6/7

A 4.50 40y at the combine is about a 11.00 FAT

Average 40s per position:

According to a five-year NFL combine report, wide receivers and cornerbacks had the fastest average times at 4.48, followed by running backs at 4.49. The following average times were measured between 2000 and 2012 at the NFL combine for players who played at least 5 games.

You speak truth.

It's no secret that I made a career out of recruiting second string football and basketball players ( in Texas) and turning them into elite sprinters and jumpers. The first string guys were usually even better but also bigger and more coordinated. They were looking at making big bucks in the pros so they used track (if at all) mostly for conditioning and felt no need to dominate.