Speed is awfully seductive. Even for quality NFL general managers like the Seattle Seahawks' John Schneider, Los Angeles’ Les Snead, and San Francisco’s John Lynch, a 40-yard dash time that begins with 4.3 is going to erase plenty of other concerns about a prospect.
We all know by now that a fast time in gym shorts doesn’t always translate into success on the field, and that plenty of other factors – some measurable and some not – are often more important.
But still, the NFL loves its speed.
Seattle Seahawks' skill-position speed gives it a leg up on its competitors
One of the things that NFL observers were sleeping on last season was just how much faster the Seahawks were than most of their rivals. This is especially true at the offensive skill positions, though it certainly showed up on defense as well.
Heading into the 2026 season, this factor is again being largely overlooked. As the Rams assemble their Hall of Fame roster in an attempt to run down the defending Super Bowl champs, maybe the most important question is this.
Are they fast enough to catch Seattle?
Speed, in a vacuum, doesn’t guarantee anything. It must be blended with skills and employed within a creative system. But all things being equal, I’d rather have the fast guy than the slow guy.
Seattle has the fast guys.
It begins on the outside. In Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Rashid Shaheed, the Seahawks have two receivers with elite top-end speed. JSN’s recorded 40 time of 4.48 seconds is very good, though by itself is not among the league’s best. But straight 40 times are not the best way to judge a receiver’s speed. JSN maintains peak velocity through change of direction, which bumps up that play speed.
He has also been clocked at better than 21 miles per hour during an actual game, which is really the best gauge of a player’s practical speed. The problem with comparing max-MPH is that it is a wildly inconsistent stat.
Peak MPH is often only achieved on a long play, like a kick return, and not every player gets that chance. Therefore, we are often comparing apples to oranges. But you don't really need numbers to see how fast Rashid Shaheed is, do you?
Seattle’s receivers are going to blow away their rivals in a relay. Even allowing for Cooper Kupp, a team of JSN, Shaheed, Kupp, and Tory Horton beats Davante Adams, Puka Nacua, Jordan Whittington, and Konata Mumfield of the Rams and the aging foursome of Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, Christian Kirk, and DeMarcus Robinson from San Fran. And it isn’t especially close.
You want to put very fast youngsters like LA’s Xavier Smith and San Fran’s De’Zhaun Stribling on those squads? OK, that would make the race closer, but if I sub in Emmanuel Henderson, Jr. for Kupp, the Seahawks again win comfortably.
It extends beyond the wide receivers. Seattle lost the elite speed of Kenneth Walker this offseason, and I still worry about how that will affect the overall offense.
Jadarian Price does not have that kind of speed, but he is still faster than every significant back on the Rams and all but Isaac Guerendo on the 49ers. (The speedy Guerendo, after amassing over 400 yards as a rookie in 2024, was essentially written out of the 49ers' offense last year.)
Even Seattle’s “power” backs like Zach Charbonnet and George Holani have speed numbers that stand up quite well against the Rams and 49ers' best backs. And should you want a little extra warp speed in the backfield, those other teams do not have a Velus Jones Jr.
Schneider snapped up Jones, a converted wide receiver, a few days after New Orleans released him in late October last year. He carried the ball in just one game, a Week 14 blowout win over Atlanta.
Four carries for 32 yards. Jones is almost 30, and he may never carry the ball in an NFL game again. But he has outrageous speed – timed at 4.31 in the 40. Not a bad weapon to have stashed on your bench.
The same goes for Jalen Milroe and his sub-4.4 sprint time. He is one of the fastest quarterbacks on record, and even though he is not likely to play much in the foreseeable future, his mere presence poses a threat that opponents need to prepare for,
At tight end, Elijah Arroyo is going to play quite a bit. In college, the tight end was once clocked at just under 22 mph. That qualifies as elite speed for a 6’5”, 254-pound athlete. Unlike the once-speedy tight ends of Seattle's main rivals – George Kittle and Tyler Higbee – Arroyo is just 23. Kittle and Higbee, both 32, are not as fast as they once were.
This, of course, guarantees nothing. George Kittle is still obviously a better tight end than Elijah Arroyo. But whereas other teams may have a fast player or two to scare a defense, the Seahawks throw waves of speed at their opponents. And that is a problem for the rest of the NFL.
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