Chris Johnson Says He Can Beat Usain Bolt In The 40 Yard Dash
LA Times - Playing in the NFL requires a certain amount of bravado and Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson is clearly not lacking in that department. Johnson, after all, told reporters that he could beat Usain Bolt in a short race. ”I feel like if I would have kept training for track I’d have a chance, but I play football and he runs track, so it’s totally different,” Johnson said. “I think I could still probably beat him in the 40. If I actually trained for the distance he trained for, I think I’d have a chance.” Bolt is considered the fastest man alive after winning the 100-meter race in an Olympic-record time of 9.63 seconds. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Bolt set world records in the 100 and 200 meters. He runs the 200 on Thursday night in an attempt to become the first Olympian to repeat in that event. Johnson is known as quite the speedster himself. He was a high school track star in Orlando and he clocked 4.24 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine in 2008. ”Training for football, we do a lot of short sprints — we do 40s and 50s and things like that. We don’t really train like track athletes,” Johnson said. “If a track athlete tried to come play football it would be totally different (for Bolt).”
Ever since Shaq vs. Hakeem in the Taco Bell one on one challenge that never materialized in 1995, I’ve been obsessed with these sort of hypotheticals. Who Would Win In A Fight? Who’s faster/stronger/better? Trying to compare players from different eras. Cross-sport challenges and shit.
I think this would be a great one. At least assuming Chris Johnson can still run a 4.2 40. I mean don’t get me wrong I’m taking Usain Bolt when it comes to any sort of sprint challenge. But Bolt usually finishes strong in the last 30 or 40 meters because of those long strides. And maybe without starting blocks and not on a race track he loses a fraction of a second here or there from the get go? I don’t know nearly enough about sprinting to know how all this shit works. But I bet the fastest guy in the NFL (whether its Chris Johnson these days or someone else) would give Bolt a run for his money in the 40.
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Vote 1 for Chris Johnson/Whoever is fastest in the NFL right now vote 10 for Bolt
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100 meters at 9.63 is like running a 40 in 3.52 seconds so bolt would probably win even considering increased acceleration after 40 yards.
Except that Bolt is not at top speed until about 40m in. I think it would be pretty darn close.
Biggayzach that’s definitely not an apples to apples comparison because of acceleration and the fact that 100 meters starts in reaction to a gun. Good looks on the cross multiplying though.
@ rational people, just google “usain bolt 40 time”
It’s not that hard to calculate, they just took his reaction time out of the blocks off what it takes him to run the first 40 yards in his fastest race.
Bolt would run around a 4.1 40. which would be close.
Just watch the old Jeep Superstars races from the 80′s on youtube. They’d match NFL guys against track stars all the time. The NFL guys would be ahead for the first half of the 100 meters and get smoked the second half.
4.24 x 2 = 8.48 for 80 yds 4.24 / 2 = 2.12 8.48 + 2.12 = 10.60
But wait, there’s more…..Usain ran the 100 meters not the 100 yard dash. CJ ran the 40 yard dash…
So according to the google (1 yard = .9144)
10.60 x .9144 = 9.69 seconds for the 100meters. This isn’t even factoring in having CJ running on a actual rubber track with running shoes, and having the ability to pick up speed on the last 60 meters. If CJ chose track instead of the NFL combine back then he would have been better than Usain and would hold the current world record. CJ is also bulked up to compete in the NFL. Hes not on a rice and spoiled goat diet like the Jamaican track team.
KFC, did you ever see the movie 21? All it takes is “simple math”…
So CJ would run the 100 yd dash in 10.6 but run the 100 meter dash in 9.69? You’re right, that is “simple” math.
@gstu219 go grab an ice pack after all that high level math.
@gstu219… extrapolate that formula out to say a mile….. ohhh see the fucking problem?? yeah, speed isn’t linear. Go back to school moron.
@gstu219…you know the other problem? When 1 yard = .9144 meters it means a yard is less than a meter. So, 10.60 x (1/.9144) = 11.59 seconds. Ya…real close race in the 100. But like others have said…speed isn’t linear…figure it out.
I ran track and played football in hs and college, I’ve seen guys fast on the field and on the track. In a 40 yard dash it’d be “close” in that it’d LOOK close, but Bolt would probably be able to break off a 4 flat if he needed to. Now if Johnson tried to run the 100meter against Bolt, NO FUCKING WAY he’d even be close, he’d run low 10′s against a 9.6 – that is annihilation. The question is – as I said before, why the fuck isn’t an NFL team courting Bolt to get on the field?
Bostonworm… haven’t you ever seen Forest Gump?
^ ….or Stonehands from Necessary Roughness?
Why the hell would Bolt want to take a beating on a football field when he makes mad bank running in track meets and setting world records? He probably banged the entire Dutch women’s field hockey team at the Olympics too.
Side note Hakeem > Shaq
Side note Hakeem > Shaq
this is from another poster on elpres post but its dead on…
Deadspin already covered this. Bolt, who has the advantage of starting out of blocks, and running on a perfect surface, would run about a 4.65 40 based on his Beijing and Berlin 100m times. His average reaction time between the two races is about 0.15s, so we can say he runs a 4.5, if he is in charge of the start, like when doing the 40.
There are a lot of NFL players who run sub-4.5, AND they do it on grass with no blocks. I’m not sure CJ is fast anymore, so I’m not saying he would beat Bolt, but plenty of NFL players could.
Nobody could come anywhere near Bolt in a full-field-length race, though.
Bolts fastest 40m split in his Berlin run that set the 100m record was from 60m to the finish line (final 40m) he ran it in 3.27 sec, granted that was with 60m buildup thats fucking flying….he ran the final 60m of the race sub-5sec
newyork32, theres a bit of a diff between 40m and 40yd. those little letters next to the numbers are called units of measurement. there are literally thousands of them, you should look into it.
Bolt all day. Strictly bc CJ is a complete dumbass.
I really think that im getting stupider reading the comment section every day…
this has to happen