The Cincinnati Bengals took a bit of a gamble to land wide receiver John Ross, who broke Chris Johnson’s 40-yard dash combine record, at No. 9 overall.
Blazing through the dash at 4.2 seconds technically makes Ross the fastest player in the league.
This is something quarterback Andy Dalton is naturally thrilled about.
“We’ve got the fastest guy in the NFL,” Dalton said, per Katherine Terrell of ESPN. “Obviously that’s a good thing to have. Teams will have to know where he is because of that speed. It may level out some of these safeties who are tilting toward A.J. [Green]. Now when you’ve got a guy who can run like he can, you’ve got a big threat going deep.”
The Bengals have Ross currently penciled in as the team’s slot receiver. He should be a guy Dalton looks to with regularity if he can stay healthy. Some teams took him off their draft boards because he enters the league with some red flags concerning his health.
One thing that isn’t debatable is that, once Ross gets his hands on the ball, he is quite a handful for defenders to chase down — something Dalton is excited about.
New teammate A.J. Green is also a speedy receiver, having run a 4.5-second 40 at the combine. It will be fun to watch the pair of them in action together this fall.
Ross enters the NFL having tallied 81 receptions for 1,150 yards and 17 touchdowns during his final year at Washington. The Bengals hope he will immediately contribute to their offense, which averaged just 20.3 points last season.