[quote]Airtruth wrote:
eic wrote:
MaximusB wrote:
I have seen countless track guys who try to play football fail miserably. There are very few occasions in football where you run in a linear fashion. You are always cutting, juking, and adjusting speed, which is something you don’t deal with in track and field events. Sometimes you do have guys who make a successful transition, but its more the exception than the rule.
Why do you assume that his speed would fall apart if he had to run in a non-linear fashion? If anything, the fact that he is probably the fastest human on earth in a linear fashion should suggest that he is also quite fast in a non-linear fashion. Maybe not AS fast, but still damn fast.
I don’t think that Bolt would just walk on the football field and instantly be the greatest football player ever. But with some decent coaching, he might be able to become an above-average kick returner or wide out. That’s all I’m saying.
His start is OBVIOUSLY slower than everybody elses, since that is the main part of cutting, and switching speeds what makes you think he will be half decent at doing that stuff?When you look at him run the 100 Meter his leg turnover isn’t better than everybody elses, he just has a stride length that is 2 feet longer than everybody elses that actually hurts you when cutting.
Then you have to look at how fast those NFL guys are, they are elite speed, I don’t even think Walter Dix was the fastest on his team at the time. Theres no telling what records would be broken if someone like Adrian Peterson specialized in the 100, and 200 all his life.[/quote]
You make some good points. I’m just not sure that poor cutting would doom him as a receiver. His ability to separate down the sideline would be hard to contend with. Not to mention his height. All of this assumes, of course, that he is good at jumping.
Keep in mind that a lot of things you guys are criticizing Bolt for would seem to apply with equal force with Randy Moss, yet he is one of the best receivers in the game. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but he doesn’t seem to have great acceleration, but his separation speed, height, and jumping ability make him money on the deep ball.