Super Bowl Sunday has arrived, with all the build-up and anticipation officially behind us. The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will square off tonight to earn the right to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
As part of the array of novelty props offered on DraftKings Sportsbook, you can bet on which player will record the fastest speed as the ball-handler in this matchup.
Who will be the fastest ball carrier in Super Bowl LX?
There are plenty of factors that go into handicapping this. For starters, the player obviously has to get the ball in their hands for this to count. But the context of these opportunities also matters. A player taking the ball out of the end zone on a kickoff on a direct sprint has a much more likely chance of achieving their top speed than a wide receiver running a curl route and attempting to break a tackle.
DraftKings also offers individual bets for whether an individual player will go over or under a certain miles per hour, which is a worthwhile reference point when projecting who will ultimately reach the best top-end speed.
- Rashid Shaheed: Over/under 19.5 miles per hour
- Mack Hollins: Over/under 18.5 miles per hour
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba: Over/under 18.5 miles per hour
- Kenneth Walker III: Over/under 18.5 miles per hour
- Drake Maye: Over/under 18.5 miles per hour
- Stefon Diggs: Over/under 16.5 miles per hour
- Kayshon Boutte: Over/under 18.5 miles per hour
- TreVeyon Henderson: Over/under 17.5 miles per hour
- Rhamondre Stevenson: Over/under 16.5 miles per hour
- Hunter Henry: Over/under 16.5 miles per hour
The biggest value that jumped out to me was the +550 odds of Kenneth Walker III being the fastest ball carrier in this matchup. Across the regular season, he averaged a top speed of 13.2 miles per hour on carries, which is the second-fastest mark in the NFL.
It will require him to break free to get to the second level, with some space in front of him to reach this. Walker is a patient rusher, with him crossing the line of scrimmage in an average of 3.19 seconds this season. This is not only the slowest rate in the NFL, but the slowest of any running back since the 2016 season. Walker is also set to see an expanded role, given the injury to Zach Charbonnet. With plenty of chances with the ball, if Walker can pick up a massive gain, he could hit the top peak speed in this game.
Kayshon Boutte, Mack Hollins and DeMario Douglas are also names to keep in mind from the Patriots’ perspective. New England is likely to take some form of deep shot in this matchup, and these are the most likely players to see those chances. A long pass over the top on a go route creates a clear path to each player reaching their top-end sprint speed. However, these are not high-probability plays, and Seattle has done an excellent job limiting plays all season, and this has me afraid of backing this. If a long pass falls incomplete, this does not count toward the fastest ball carrier at all.
But to me, the clear best selection is Rashid Shaheed at +130 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook. Seattle traded for Shaheed midseason, and he has brought an additional explosive pop to the team. While he plays a role in the offense as well, Shaheed is the kick and punt returner for this Seahawks team. He took the opening kickoff back against the 49ers, which set the tone for the entire game.
Across the regular season, Shaheed clocked a top speed of 21.72 miles per hour, per Next Gen Stats. Only eight players in the league reached a higher top-end speed all season, with these being Jahmyr Gibbs, Jonathan Taylor, Brian Thomas Jr., TreVeyon Henderson, Saquon Barkley, Bijan Robinson, Charlie Jones and Kyle Williams.
Henderson deserves to be mentioned in this outlook, considering he has reached the highest top-end speed of any potential ball carriers in this game. However, the rookie played a season-low 6.3% of the offensive snaps in the previous game. He saw just three carries on four offensive snaps. Rhamondre Stevenson looks to have returned as the primary running back option, and there is not a clear enough guaranteed role for Henderson for me to back him in good faith.
With Shaheed guaranteed to see kickoff returns where he can generate steam with the ball in his hands, and his ability to get to the second level having been put on display all year, I am backing the Seattle speedster to be the fastest ball carrier tonight. Getting +130 odds is really solid value given his role. Shaheed has a clearer advantage for seeing the opportunity to reach his top-end sprint and more certainty of seeing a chance with the ball in his hands than plenty of the other options. Back Shaheed to deliver on the +130 odds.
