As Tremendous Bowl LIX approaches, that includes an enormous rematch between the back-to-back champions, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, and the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 9 in New Orleans, it’s an ideal time to discover the connection between soccer and operating. The explosiveness, velocity and precision required in observe occasions translate seamlessly to positions like extensive receiver and operating again, the place the athletes depend on uncooked energy and acceleration to flee defenders.
Listed here are 5 present NFL gamers who honed their expertise on the observe earlier than turning into gridiron standouts.
Tyreek Hill (Miami Dolphins)
The Miami Dolphins star extensive receiver had a prolific observe and subject profession earlier than being drafted to the NFL in 2016. Hill competed for Crew USA in a number of worldwide dash occasions, together with the 2012 World Junior Championships (U20), the place he earned gold within the males’s 4x100m relay and a person bronze within the males’s 200m (20.54).
He has private bests of 10.19 seconds over 100m and 6.64 seconds over 60m indoors. In 2023, he returned to the observe throughout the NFL offseason to run a 60-meter race on the USATF Masters Championships. He has additionally reportedly been in talks about racing Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles sooner or later.
Chuba Hubbard (Carolina Panthers)
The Canadian operating again for the Carolina Panthers was one of the crucial improved gamers of the 2024-2025 season, setting profession highs in touchdowns, yards, and carries. The 25-year-old’s means to burst by defences and speed up in just some steps isn’t any coincidence—it’s a talent he honed throughout his observe and subject profession for Canada.
In 2015, at 16, Hubbard represented Canada within the 100m on the World Youth Championships (now acknowledged as U20) in Cali, Colombia. There, he clocked a private better of 10.55 seconds within the 100m heats and narrowly missed out on a medal within the closing, ending fifth. The race was received by Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, who has since turn out to be a two-time Olympian and reached the ultimate of the boys’s 100m on the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
The next yr, Hubbard captured the U20 males’s 100m title on the 2016 Canadian Observe and Area Championships in his hometown of Edmonton earlier than heading to Oklahoma State College on a soccer scholarship.
Xavier Worthy (Kansas Metropolis Chiefs)
Fresno, Calif.’s Worthy is the lone participant on this listing who shall be beginning in Tremendous Bowl LIX. Worthy was drafted by the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs in 2024 as a wide-receiver substitute for Hill, who was traded to the Miami Dolphins from the Chiefs in 2022. Though Worthy didn’t run observe in faculty, he broke information on the 2024 NFL Mix, operating the quickest 40-yard sprint (35.6 meters) time in NFL historical past at 4.21 seconds.
Worthy was a standout sprinter for Central Excessive Faculty in Fresno, reaching state championships within the 100m and 200m, the place he recorded private bests of twenty-two.14 for 200m and 10.65 for 100m in 2019. As one of many quickest gamers within the NFL proper now, it will be fascinating to see what Worthy might obtain in a 200m race.
D.Okay. Metcalf (Seattle Seahawks)
Seattle Seahawks receiver D.Okay. Metcalf hasn’t shied away from the highlight on and off the soccer subject. In 2021, Metcalf competed on the USATF Golden Video games at Mt. SAC in Walnut, Calif., in an effort to qualify for the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials within the males’s 100m. Coming off an NFL season, Metcalf held his personal however completed final within the 100m warmth, operating 10.36 seconds. Whereas it’s a first rate time for a soccer participant with a big body, it’s distant from the extent of knowledgeable sprinter.
Metcalf competed as a excessive hurdler in highschool, however this was his first race in nearly six years. He mentioned after the race that he was humbled by the expertise, calling the seven males who beat him “world-class athletes.” The 27-year-old hasn’t touched the observe since.
Jayden Daniels (Washington Commanders)
The 24-year-old quarterback out of Fontana, Calif., had an NFL rookie season to recollect for the Washington Commanders. He was the primary rookie starter in NFL historical past to achieve the convention championships, setting a document for essentially the most dashing yards by a rookie within the postseason (135 yards).
Daniels was a standout 400m runner in highschool, operating a private finest of fifty.54 seconds for Cajun Excessive Faculty in San Bernardino, Calif., in Grade 11 earlier than stopping observe to give attention to soccer in his senior yr. He additionally had private bests of 23.64 for 200m and 11.37 for 100m.