NFL 2024 – Ranking the fastest NFL players by horsepower

Every week Next Gen Stats posts the top speed the fastest 20 players reached that week.  They also update a table for the 2024 season overall.  Here is that chart updated through week 6 Sunday games.

Highest Top Speed For Each Player

I then took the top 20 from each year 2018 -2023 and for each player, I assigned the highest speed he achieved if he had more than one qualifying play.  All players from the top 20 in 2024 that did not have a higher top speed, or no speed at all, were added to the list of the fastest from 2018 – 2023.

I also saw this insight by Next Gen Stats about Khalen Saunders. That got me thinking about how can I compare a 320 lb DT running 18mph vs a 210lb WR running 22mph.  The answer is horsepower.

Calculating NFL Player Horsepower

To calculate horsepower you need weight and speed.  For speed you can use a time over a distance or a trap speed.  For example, a car’s time over a 1/4 mile(distance) or it’s speed as it crosses the quarter mile line(trap speed).  What we have in the above list is essentially trap speed.

The formula for horsepower = (weight) * ((trap speed)/243)³

So I found the listed weight of every player on the list, which gives us the components we need.

Adding In The Most Powerful NFL Players

If you saw the Saunders insight, then you know that Linval Joseph’s 18mph at 329lbs is pretty impressive.  What if added in the biggest and strongest NFL players, the Edge and Defensive Tackles?  The problem is Next Gen Stats doesn’t list speeds for every player so we would need to grab their speed from somewhere else.  Like their draft combine 40 yard dash times.

Converting 40 Yard Dash Into MPH

Here is a nifty little chart showing the time splits a player needs to achieve over each 10 yard increment in the 40 yard dashin order to set a certain time.  That is then convert into the MPH they are achieving if they reach or better those split times.

Now there is one adjustment we need to make and this is me going off the scientific rails and into a little guesswork.  When players run a 40 yard dash they are in shorts indoors, and when they set fastest speed in Next Gen Stats they are in full uniform in game conditions.  The highest top speed in since 2018 is Raheem Mostert at 23.09mph.

If you look at the row for 20-30 yard MPH, the top speed a player can reach is 23.24 if they run a 4.1 40yd dash.  That is a little higher than Mostert’s 23.09, but Mostert doesn’t have 4.1 speed either.  So it would seem fair to say that in game conditions this 20-30yd MPH column is probably a fair reflection of the highest speed a player can reach.  So let’s use this column to estimate the MPH of Edge and DT players using their 40 yard Dash time.

Naturally I can’t do this for every player, so I did so research and culled a list of players who set extremely fast 40 yard dash times for their weight.  This means that I surely missed some powerful players.

Offensive Linemen

Why not Offensive Lineman?  Because while they have the weight, they typically do not achieve high top speeds.  Terron Armstead has the record for fastest 40 yard time for an offensive lineman at 4.71 Seconds.  That is a little bit faster than Fletcher Cox (4.77) and a little slower than Aaron Donald (4.68).

There are 3 offensive lineman that deserve mention: Lane Johnson, Armstead, & Trent Williams.  Lane Johnson generated the highest amount of horsepower of any player using this methodology at 0.21408 hp.  If added to the list below Armstead would slot in after Barno in 6th.  Williams would end up in 11th, O’Neill 13th.  Collins would slot into the low 20’s.

NFL Most Powerful Players By Horsepower

Finally the payoff.  Look at how powerful DK Metcalf & Derrick Henry are as measured by horsepower.  Shout out to Mostert, Jonathon Taylor, and Saquon Barkley as the only other active offensive players generating over 0.19 horsepower(Waller retired).
OL – BOLD Italic  DE/DT – BOLD