Texans give world's fastest man Gatlin a look Pete Prisco Nov. 28, 2006 By Pete Prisco CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer Justin Gatlin, the gold-medal winner in the 100-meter dash in the 2004 Summer Olympics, appears ready to try his hand at the NFL. Gatlin worked out for the Houston Texans on Tuesday, according to an NFL source. Gatlin attended the University of Tennessee but never played football. He tested positive for a banned substance, reportedly testosterone in April of this year, and, although he denied using the substance, he accepted an eight-year ban from track and field. Gatlin, the world's fastest man and world record holder for the 100-meter dash at 9.76 seconds, tried out at wide receiver for the Texans. Gatlin set the world record in the 100 meters last May before his ban went into affect. Gatlin would be following a long line of track stars who have attempted to cross over to the NFL. Included among them are John Carlos and Renaldo Nehemiah. Although Nehemiah had some success with the 49ers, none of the track stars ever made a major impact in the NFL after Olympic success. Nehemiah, who played four seasons for the 49ers, is also Gatlin's agent. Earlier this year when the Philadelphia Eagles inquired about Gatlin playing football, Nehemiah said Gatlin didn't need football. But that was before the eight-year ban. Gatlin last played football in 10th grade of high school, reportedly quitting the team in a dispute with a coach. Link
I guess why not? But I'd think it'd take too much time investment to make it worthwhile. He'll need to utilized athleticism that isn't used in 100 meter sprints.
Fascinating story. It would be something if this story ends in a happy ending for us. I mean it's no secret the Texans need all the help they can get. Just hope he has the hands to play wide receiver unlike Nehemiah or that dude in the movie, Necessary Roughness where Robert Loggia's character says " NO! Dont throw it to stonehands." Priceless sound bite. Seriously though, it's no secret the Texans need to stretch defenses by whatever means possible. I'd pretty much say try something, ANYTHING at this point to circumvent the cruel and unusual punishment known as our pathetic, non-scoring offense plus, delineate the effectiveness of that damn constant D known as the cover 2 that keeps eating our DAMN lunch week after week and keeps sucking the life out of us Texan fans.
He's definitely got an NFL body and NFL speed. Let's just hope he has the NFL hands and intangibles...
i clicked on the link hoping it would send me to the onion or something but it didn't how much of a joke are we? trying out doped up sprinters? wow.
What kind of track athlete would be dumb enough to try out for an NFL team? Sincerely, Carl Lewis What kind of NFL team would be dumb enough to give a track athlete a tryout? Sincerely, The Dallas Cowboys
Weren't a lot of scouts saying that about Mathis? about him being more of a track athlete???? If Gatlin does get signed we would officially have two of the fastest players in the nfl. (I still think mathis is faster than deangelo Hall)
Why the hell not? The guy definitely has the speed and the size to play football, but the big question is whether he has the toughness or the skills. Putting him a KR would be very interesting but I think someone would literally take his head off the second he tries to run as fast as he can.
