N/S...Is an olympic sprinter in the NFL Joke or Legit (1 Viewer)

Holiday

Holiday may play football, but he is definitely not a football player :D

In all fairness, I don't think that we have seen Holiday utilized as best as he can be. The best is yet to come.
 
The biggest concern for holiday should be his size.....but so far in the NCAA his size (and his speed of course) is what makes him so elusive....once a defender gets close its hard for him to be tackled b/c he is so small....but if he ever got hit directly in the nfl..(reggie bush eagles hit) i dont think he'll have the toughness reggie showed after that hit....

but as far as an olympic sprinter being successful in the NFL....look at Devin Hester...I dont know his stats but he's clearly a speedster and all he does when he goes in at receiver is catch the deep ball.....he doesn't even have mind blowing jukes...he just hits the hole at full speed and hes past the entire coverage team before they realize he found a seam....
 
The biggest concern for holiday should be his size.....but so far in the NCAA his size (and his speed of course) is what makes him so elusive....once a defender gets close its hard for him to be tackled b/c he is so small....but if he ever got hit directly in the nfl..(reggie bush eagles hit) i dont think he'll have the toughness reggie showed after that hit....

but as far as an olympic sprinter being successful in the NFL....look at Devin Hester...I dont know his stats but he's clearly a speedster and all he does when he goes in at receiver is catch the deep ball.....he doesn't even have mind blowing jukes...he just hits the hole at full speed and hes past the entire coverage team before they realize he found a seam....

Devin Hester is not that fast in a straight line. He has insane agility and acceleration. He can stop on a dime and then be at full speed in just a few steps.
 
Bob Hayes was a "one trick pony". Reminds me of the old playground days, "Go long".. Blazing speed, average hands, rarely went over the middle. If he played today, with the bump and run coverage, his success would be limited.

Pretty much the same with Renaldo N.

I would think it was much easier to play defense back then and much harder on the offense. Now a days the offense gets all the advantages while defense is more encumbered with rules:

  • Offense gets a Radio Set (until this year) advantaging them over the defense
  • Defensive Backs are not allowed to face guard anymore
  • Defenders arent allowed to hit defenseless receivers anymore
  • In 1974 Roll-blocking and cutting of wide receivers was eliminated; the extent of downfield contact a defender could have with an eligible receiver was restricted.
  • In 1977 Defenders were permitted to make contact with eligible receivers only once (when Bob played it was Bump and Bump and Bump again coverage)
 
That little sprinter that played for LSU this year was pretty good. And when I say little, I mean little. I can't remember his name though. But since this is an NFL related question there have been some olympic class sprinters that have played well as mentioned above
 
In all fairness, I don't think that we have seen Holiday utilized as best as he can be. The best is yet to come.

If he makes the Olympic team we won't see much of him this year. He will be focusing on track and will miss the spring drills and won't join the team until midseason should he make the U.S. team.

He may be the smallest player when he steps on the football field (AND FASTEST EVER) but should he make the Olympic team and actually win a medal he will be the most recognizable and/or talked about football player anytime he steps onto the field after that. Look for him to have a bigger impact in 2009.

Also it is unfair to question his toughness or his heart yet as he has not shown weakness in these areas to this point. Other players smaller than him have played in the NFL (Howard Stevens -Saints) as specialists and have had success. If you're tough you're tough no matter what size you are. Michael Lewis has been creamed his share of times. If you are faster than everyone else you can slip the big hits more often than not. Broken bones mend. Lack of courage is hard to change. If he were to suffer multiple concussions from big hits that could end his career prematurely or maybe not. Most folks don't consider QBs to be tough guys but they get creamed more than any other players. And btw, even concussions haven't stopped many that have had multiple ones and yet still play because they are fearless and love the game and everything that comes with it.
 

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