Mr Bad Example Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 2 hours ago, Shanedorf said: Bob Hayes was an Olympic sprinter and played 10 seasons in the NFL, 5 of them being productive His build was much more conducive to playing football than the majority of elite sprinters He averaged 20 yards/ reception over his career and racked up 71 TDs and over 7000 yds. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HayeBo00.htm I think Bolt would be fortunate to have a similar career, the GOAT talk is just silly. The transformation from an individual sport to a team sport is no small thing and a WR has to be OK with only being the target on about 10 out of 60 plays a game. Bolt is mentally used to being the best athlete on the field and coming in first place, neither of those would be the case in the NFL. He would have to learn to block and have the cajones to do it.. He'd have to learn the nuances of route running and the playbook well enough to handle a QB making changes at LOS based on defensive personnel, alignment of CB and reactions of the Safety. Learning a static playbook is much easier than having a dynamic knowledge of football and being able to react in a split second and have the same reaction as the QB. Modern football is truly a mental game and the idea of "just run fast" is antiquated at best. Lots of elite athletes flame out for a variety of reasons- Bolt would have a steep climb to be a good WR and an even steeper climb to be a top producing WR It was a less complex game when Hayes played, as well....zone defenses didn't exist. Or at least they didn't exist until coaches saw Hayes take the top off their defense and had to figure out some way to keep it from happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TecmoSuperJoe Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 (edited) On 6/26/2020 at 2:43 AM, BleedTheClock said: There's literally no way of knowing. It's not as simple as running fast and being tall, obviously. There are plenty of freaks that couldn't hack it. I think the chance of Usain Bolt being the GOAT WR would be pretty slim despite his physical gifts. I mean, the best WR's of all-time aren't even physical marvels for the most part. Look at the game today. Most of the best WR's aren't even physically great. Deandre Hopkins, Keenan Allen, Michael Thomas, etc are all below average athletes based on what you look for in a #1 receiver. Sure Randy Moss, Julio Jones, and Calvin Johnson are out there dominating. But what about Jerry Rice, the consensus GOAT WR? I'm pretty sure 90% of #1 NFL receivers nowadays are faster and bigger than him. So the answer is probably no. But it's possible. It's also possible that Jaleel White (Steve Urkel) could have been the GOAT WR too. It's possible, but who the eff knows. Rice wasn't even the best athletic receiver on his own team in his prime. That was John Taylor who just by the eye test looked a lot more athletic, and was faster. I think he can still do a backflip at 60 or however old he is now. Edited June 27, 2020 by PapaShogun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
$andtrap Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 All Bolt has is speed. Jerry Rice is the GOAT and he was far more known for route running and catching than his speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bad Example Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 5 hours ago, $andtrap said: All Bolt has is speed. Jerry Rice is the GOAT and he was far more known for route running and catching than his speed. Rice had football speed - one thing that 40 time doesn't measure is how efficient you move once you're wearing 20-ish lbs of gear. Everyone has seen Rice outrun people who "timed" faster than him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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