Move over Lamar Jackson and Marquise "Hollywood" Brown, Hayden Hurst has clocked the Ravens' top speed of the season on offense.
According to Next Gen Stats, the Ravens' tight end hit 20.5 mph during his 61-yard touchdown in Sunday's 24-17 win over the Buffalo Bills. It's one of the fastest speeds any tight end in the league has clocked this season.
The Ravens' top speed this year still belongs to cornerback Marcus Peters, who hit 21.11 mph on his 89-yard pick-six in Cincinnati. Peters also owns the team's second-fastest time with his 67-yard pick-six in Seattle.
But if looking at the offense, Hurst is at the top. It's good to see from the Ravens' top draft pick of 2018 (No. 25 overall), who has had a (for lack of a better word) slower start to his career than he anticipated.
"You could see his ability there," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "He caught it and ran. He was running away from defensive backs there so, that's one of the things he does really well."
Hurst said that once he caught the ball behind the Bills secondary, he had just one goal in mind – to reach the end zone. Was he worried he might get caught?
"That would have been embarrassing, but I was rolling in on that," Hurst said. "Lamar saw me, threw the ball over the top and I just punched it."
The Bills were caught in a cover-zero blitz – with all 11 players near the line of scrimmage – and Hurst blew right past safety Jordan Poyer and into the open field.
"I was rolling and I saw a lot of space," Hurst said. "I don't get that look too often, so I try to take full advantage of it."
Jackson's top speed so far this season was on a 12-yard run in Week 12 against the Los Angeles Rams, when he hit 20.33 miles per hour.
Brown, who has been slowed somewhat by multiple injuries this season, has cracked the NFL's top-20 fastest players three times this season, with his fastest speed at 20.43 mph on the 49-yard catch on the first play of the game in Cincinnati.
Hurst and fellow tight end Mark Andrews ran the same 40-yard dash times at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine – both at 4.67 seconds. Neither Jackson or Brown ran the 40-yard dash, but they would definitely post faster times.
But when it has come to game speed, Hurst now has bragging rights in the offensive meeting room.
"There's a reason we got him number one last year," Jackson said. "He has proven that. He's feeling loose and getting back to his old self like he was in college."
Instead of bragging, Hurst got on social media to apologize Tuesday morning. In the excitement from scoring the critical touchdown, Hurst did a mini leap into the New Era Field stands and accidentally headbutted a Ravens fan in the face. Good thing he had slowed up by that time.
