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Olympian takes Bengals WR John Ross up on 40-yard challenge

John Ross

John Ross is a fast man. He set a NFL Combine record by running the 40-yard dash in 4.22 seconds, which you can see here.

But can Ross — now with the Cincinnati Bengals — beat an Olympic sprinter? He seems to think so. In fact, Ross challenged the ultimate Olympic sprinter, Usain Bolt, to a 40-yard race. Bolt has remained quiet on the matter, but University of Tennessee sprinter Christian Coleman took Ross up on it. Coleman is the NCAA’s 60-yard champion and ran on the USA’s 4 x 100 relay team at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Granted, Coleman is not Bolt. But this doesn’t bode well for Ross’ chances in a potential race with the greatest sprinter the world has ever seen.

One-tenth of a second may not seem like much but as Jay Busbee of Yahoo Sports detailed, that’s roughly a one-yard difference. In football terms, think about how open a receiver is if he’s a yard away from the nearest defender. It’s pretty darn significant.

Ross is certainly an incredibly fast man. But his job isn’t only to be fast. He needs to run routes, catch passes, dodge hits, and even block. Guys like Bolt and Coleman have one job — be fast. Ross has speed, but he has a ways to go to catch those guys.

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