Chiefs place John Ross, NFL's fastest man turned draft bust, on reserve/retired list
The NFL's fastest man is reportedly calling it a career.
John Ross, who made headlines ahead of the 2017 NFL Draft with a combine-record 4.22-second performance at the 40-yard dash, told the Kansas City Chiefs he is retiring, according to ESPN. Ross was officially placed on the reserve/retired list Wednesday.
The development ends a six-year career in the NFL that saw Ross become one of the league's bigger draft busts in recent memory. His final career numbers, barring a comeback: 62 catches, 957 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on 143 targets, an average of 6.7 yards per target.
John Ross struggled to stay on the field
After his 40-yard dash record, a record that is still standing, the Cincinnati Bengals took Ross ninth overall out of Washington with the hopes he could become a field-stretching weapon. That never really happened.
Ross was buried on the depth chart in his rookie year while dealing with a knee injury, playing in only three games and fumbling the only time he touched the ball. His final line: two targets, zero receptions and a 12-yard rush.
He got more in the mix his sophomore year with 21 catches, 210 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 58 targets, then really seemed to break out with 158 yards and two touchdowns in Week 1 of 2019 and 112 yards and another touchdown in Week 2. Unfortunately, that was the highest point he would ever reach. He posted only 236 yards the rest of the year while spending eight weeks on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.
Ross played one more season with the Bengals, posting two catches for 17 yards while his trade request went unheeded. He signed with the New York Giants and posted a familiar season of 11 catches, 224 yards and one touchdown on 20 targets in 2021, then didn't play at all last season.
A deal with the Chiefs signed in January was supposed to be the start of a comeback for Ross, but it looks like he will instead be packing it in. His career provides a cautionary tale on the pitfalls of falling in love with straight-line speed when a player also has to physically challenge cornerbacks, catch the ball and, most crucially for the 5-foot-11, 194-pound Ross, stay healthy.
The Bengals bet big on Ross simply being able to run past everyone, but it's never that easy.
