NFL Fastest Players – Highest Player Top Speeds 2018 – 2023

Here is a look at the fastest players in the NFL based on the top speed achieved while in possession of the ball.  It consists of the top 20 speed readings from each of the past 6 seasons, 2018 – 2023.  That results in a total of 120 plays to analyze.

Fastest Plays By Play Type

Below is a chart that summarized the 120 plays by play type.  Also included is whether there was a TD or penalty on the play, the count of such plays, and the highest speed recorded for that subset of play type.

The 120 plays broke down as follows:

• 48 Rushing Plays
• 44 Receptions
• 12 Interceptions
• 8 Kickoff returns
• 8 Punt returns

Fastest NFL Players

Here is the full list of 120 plays.  The following columns are used in the chart:

• Rank = Overall Speed Rank 2018 – 2023
• Year
• Year Rank = Rank in the year recorded
• Week
• Player
• Team
• Position
• Speed (MPH)
• Play Type
• TD/Penalty = This value can be TD, Penalty, or none
• Yards = Length of the play
• Time to Cover Distance
• 100 yard speed time – The 100 yard time of the player IF they ran at the max speed the entire 100 yards.
• Yards in front of next = How far in front of the next player in the list the player would be in the 100 yard max speed race.
• Cumulative Yards in front = This is how far in front of the 118th players each player was in the 100 yard max speed race.

NFL’s Fastest Player Sprint Race

So what if we had to pick players for the NFL 100 yard Sprint final that would be run in the same manner of the Olympics.  The first limitation is that Olympic Sprint races are typically contested and restricted by the standard 8 lane configuration at most tracks.  That means we need to get down to the 8 fastest NFL players by some process.

The first player in has to be Raheem Mostart.  He has the 1st and 2nd highest top speeds in the list, both from 2020 when he was with the Niners.  Oddly, Mostart only has one other appearance in the top 120, #63 when he was with the Dolphins in 2023.  As such, I think it is fair to say he has earned one of the eight slots.  To not include him would put the whole fantasy race in question.

A player who backs up a time with multiple appearances in the chart should be among the other players in consideration.  There are only 4 players in the top 10 that have that speed as their ONLY appearance in the chart:

• Cordarrelle Patterson – A returner limited by opportunities
• Paris Campbell
• Kenyon Drake
• Marquez Valdes-Scantling

Let’s knock out these 4 players due to no back up time.

Potential Qualifiers

The other players in the top 10 with multiple appearances in the chart:

• Matt Breda
• DK Metcalf
• Jonathan Taylor
• Kenneth Walker

Then there would be the list of players with 3 or more appearances in the charts:

• Tyreek Hill (8)
• Jonathan Taylor (5)
• Derrick Henry (4)
• Saquon Barkley (4)
• Curtis Samuel (3)
• DeSean Jackson (3)
• Devin Duvernay (3)
• Devon Archane(3)
• Raheem Mostart (3)

Lane Assignments

Given this info, here are the lane assignments:

• Lane 1 – Raheem Mostart
• Lane 2 – Tyreek Hill
• Lane 3 – Jonathan Taylor
• Lane 4 – Derrick Henry
• Lane 5 – Saquon Barkley
• Lane 6 – Devon Archane
• Lane 7 – Matt Breda
• Lane 8 – Devin Duvernay

The tough decisions really only came for lanes 7 & 8.  Breda deserves a spot since his two speed times rank #3 and #9.  The final slot was between Samuel, Jackson, & Duvernay.  Max speed was a slight edge to Duvernay(21.76) vs Jackson(21.72), and Duvernay set his in 2021 vs Jackson in 2018.  Samuel max speed of 21.56 just wasn’t enough to get a lane.

The chart below has speed on the horizontal axis and length of the play on the vertical axis.  And it just happens to look a lot like a spint track with a bunch of lanes.  The size of the bubble is relative to the player’s MPH.

The chart below shows the results of a 100 yard races IF all players ran their MAX speed for the entire race.

NFL Fastest Players Play Count

Below is a list of the players that appear in the 120 plays.  It includes the amount of times the player appeared in the rankings and the highest Max speed they recorded.

NFL Fastest Teams

The chart below breaks out the 120 plays based on Team/Player.  The chart includes the following columns:

• Team
• Player
• Count of Speed = The amount of plays each team or player recorded
• Unique Players = How many different players each team had on the list
• Max Speed  = The highest max speed recorded by the player among all their listed plays if they have more than one.