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The fastest player on the Ravens this year? It's not Lamar Jackson or Marquise Brown

Chris Cwik
Staff writer

Anyone who has watched Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson this season knows he’s fast. Jackson routinely displays excellent speed, cutting ability and vision when he becomes a runner. Jackson is such a good athlete that you might even assume he’s been the fastest player on the offense this season.

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But you would be wrong. And if you think, “Oh, well then it must Marquise Brown,” well, you’d be wrong about that too.

Turns out, the fastest player on the Ravens this season is ... a tight end. During his touchdown run in Week 14, tight end Hayden Hurst reached 20.50 mph while sprinting toward the end zone. Incredibly, that’s the fastest speed reached by a Ravens offensive player this year.

While that comes as a surprise, it doesn’t technically prove Hurst is the fastest player on the offense. In a 40-yard dash, we would still take Brown and Jackson over Hurst.

Instead, it’s more of a comment on how rare it is to see players hit their top speed on the field. Jackson is exceptionally quick, but rarely has a wide open room to break into a full sprint. He’s usually adjusting his speed so he can evade tacklers. Brown has made some wide-open catches, but hasn’t had the ability to turn on the jets. Hurst, on the other hand, made a catch with no one in front of him, and plenty of room to hit his top speed.

Even with those caveats, we imagine Hurst will be bragging about this accomplishment in practice all week. It might be a technicality, but if there’s proof you’re faster than two of the fastest players out there, you ride it as long as you can.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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