The Kansas City Chiefs are built with a ton of speed and that’s highlighted by none other than Tyreek Hill, the fastest player in the NFL. Except Tyreek wasn’t the fastest player this week. According to the NFL’s Next Gen stats, Kareem Hunt was actually faster than Tyreek.
Fastest ballcarriers in Week 1, per NFL #NextGenStats
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) September 12, 2017
1. Kareem Hunt
2. Tyreek Hill
3. Jeremy Maclin
4. T. Benjamin
5. & 6. Dalvin Cook
They each had 70-plus yard touchdowns so they had plenty of space to pick up steam. This shows that not all speed is the same. Not every 40-yard dash is a perfect indicator of a person’s speed. Hunt’s 40-yard dash was 4.6 at the Combine and yet here he is with Tyreek, who is without question the fastest player in the NFL.
What Tyreek has as well is quickness and the ability to stop and start very quickly. That’s one of his biggest advantages. Hunt’s speed is no joke, though. Go back and look at his long run to the left (the one with that great block by Travis Kelce) and you’ll see him turn on the jets. Go to his 78-yard touchdown and you’ll see he was inches from being caught until he turned it on.
Also funny here? The third player on this list was a Chief earlier this year. Sigh...