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Who Are the 10 Fastest Players in the NFL This Season?

Nate Cunningham

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver KaVontae Turpin is the fastest player in the NFL this season.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver KaVontae Turpin is the fastest player in the NFL this season. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
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In the NFL, it’s no secret that everyone is fast. Even the “slow” players are fast. NFL rosters are packed with the most elite talent in the world. So when a player is known for being exceptionally fast in the league, you know they’re a special talent. 

From wide receivers blazing past cornerbacks to running backs who find the edge and never look back to defensive backs who can track down anyone, speed is a game-changing trait. It’s not just about straight-line velocity; these players combine their quickness with agility, vision and precision, making them some of the most dangerous athletes in professional sports.

So let’s take a look at 10 of the fastest NFL players in 2024. 

The Speedsters of the NFL in 2024

The 40-yard dash, which is notably run by players at the NFL Combine, is a nice tool to assess a player’s speed. But it isn’t really a one-to-one translation on the field. Everything changes when the pads are on and the field is filled with 22 players.

So we’re not going to use that for the purposes of this breakdown. 

Instead, we’re going to use the NFL’s Next Gen Stats to look at the fastest in-game runs in 2024. 

How Speed Is Measured in the NFL

When the NFL introduced Next Gen Stats, the league was very serious about providing new, noteworthy and previously hard-to-capture data. 

With massive leaps in technology, the NFL has implemented a complex system in each stadium. Developed in a partnership with Zebra Technologies and Wilson Sporting Goods, the NFL’s Next Gen Stats track player movement using 20-30 ultrawide band receivers, a minimum of two radio-frequency ID (RFID) tags per set of shoulder pads, as well as RFID tags on the ball, the chains, the pylons and the officials. 

Approximately 250 devices are active in the stadium for every game, with a minimum of three operators tracking all the systems throughout the game. 

Honorable Mentions: 2023’s Fastest NFL Players

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, whose nickname “Cheetah” is fitting, had the most appearances in the NFL’s 20 fastest speeds list from 2023. Hill’s top speed reached 22.23 mph in Week 13 on a 73-yard receiving touchdown. He also ranked in the top 20 four other instances last season. All four of those speeds topped 21.51 mph. 

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf stood atop the list from a season ago, reaching 22.36 mph on a 64-yard touchdown grab in Week 11. Metcalf recorded the fastest speed from any NFL player since 2020 and did so despite being listed at nearly 240 pounds on the Seattle roster. 

Top 10 Fastest NFL Players This Season

The following is a breakdown of the 10 fastest players in the 2024 NFL season through Week 11. However, we have noted each player’s fastest play. 

So for example, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has three of the 10 fastest recorded speeds in the NFL this season (21.93 mph in Week 7, 21.72 mph in Week 9 and 21.66 mph in Week 3), but because we’re focusing on fastest players, he won’t appear on the list three times. Instead, we’ll use his fastest recorded speed and rank that accordingly. 

Player

Team

Speed (mph)

Week

Play Type

KaVontae Turpin

Dallas

22.36

11

64-yd reception TD

Brian Thomas Jr.

Jacksonville

22.15

5

85-yd reception TD

Jahmyr Gibbs

Detroit

22.03

8

70-yd rush TD

Saquon Barkley

Philadelphia

21.93

7

55-yd rush

Nico Collins

Houston

21.89

1

55-yd reception

James Cook

Buffalo

21.85

13

65-yd rush TD

Jordan Addison

Minnesota

21.80

7

51-yd reception

Derrick Henry

Baltimore

21.72

7

81-yd rush

Jonathan Taylor

Indianapolis

21.56

10

58-yd rush

Khalil Dorsey

Detroit

21.52

8

72-yd kickoff return TD

KaVontae Turpin: Big-Time Speed in Big D

Return specialist/wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, Turpin recorded the fastest speed from any player during the 2024 season thus far. In Week 11, he caught a 64-yard touchdown pass, reaching 22.36 mph in the process. 

Turpin had recorded just 17 catches going into that game, but with speed like that it seems like more looks are on the way for the former TCU Horned Frog. 

Saquon Barkley: NFL’s Most Dangerous Runner?

As previously mentioned, Barkley is consistently hitting at least 21 mph, which must be terrifying for defensive coordinators to think about. Among the 20 fastest ballcarriers this season, Barkley owns the Nos. 4, 5 and 10 spots. 

Barkley did not make the list in 2023 but did appear on it in 2022. He had the 16th-fastest run of any player that season, clocking in at 21.31 mph on a 27-yard run. That play would also rank in the top 20 this season, but is significantly slower than his runs this year.

Derrick Henry: Age Is Just A Number

The oldest player on the list is Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry. Henry will turn 31 years old in January and is the active leader in rushing attempts. 

But that literally does not appear to be slowing him down. 

Henry has two of the 15 fastest recorded speeds this season. In Week 7, he topped out at 21.72 mph on an 81-yard run. In Week 5, Henry hit 21.46 mph on a 51-yard run. The four-time Pro Bowler is the heaviest player on the list at 247 pounds. 

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Nate Cunningham
NATE CUNNINGHAM

Nathan Cunningham is a writer for Sports Illustrated and Minute Media. Throughout his career, he has written about collegiate sports, NFL Draft, Super Bowl champions, and more. Nathan has also been featured in FanSided and 90Min. Nathan loves colorful uniforms, mascots and fast-break pull-up 3-pointers. He graduated from BYU in 2016 with a degree in journalism.

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