Baltimore Ravens rookie wide receiver Marquise Brown took his first career reception in the NFL to the house. The speedy wide receiver took a simple slant route 47 yards for a touchdown, shaking off a would-be tackler in the process and just outracing everyone else for the score.
Brown would immediately beat his first touch on his very next one, beating a cornerback on a deep post for 83 yards and a second touchdown. On this play, Brown blew the doors off the defender to get a few steps on him, With the ball in his hands, he hit 20.33 mph and giving a little waggle to shake the defender off his tail, running into the end zone untouched.
Take a look at the play and specifically Brown’s crazy speed:
According to Next Gen Stats, Brown was the 14th fastest ball carrier in the NFL last week. What’s even more impressive is Brown says he’s not even at his top speed yet.
“I wasn’t back to full speed,” Brown said, according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “I was talking to people, telling them, ‘I don’t know if it was the heat or something, but I wasn’t really feeling it.’ But I was running pretty good.”
Brown has been recovering from a foot injury that required surgery to repair back in February. He missed most of training camp and several preseason games as Baltimore worked him back into the lineup. But even by Week 1, Brown is still battling the injury as shown by his appearance on the injury report ahead of kickoff.
If Brown can already blow the doors off a cornerback like Minkah Fitzpatrick — who is now looking to trade out of Miami and is already drawing interest — things are going to get crazy when he’s fully healthy and at his top speed. Brown made those two receptions look downright easy. Don’t be shocked if by the end of the season, Brown puts up the number to make a real claim for being the fastest player in the NFL.
