There’s no way to be sure that he could move laterally, stay healthy when repeatedly hit, block downfield, make cuts, or catch, but like you said he’s got the size of Brandon Marshall and is the fastest dude ever… It is kind of interesting but I don’t think it would ever happen.

For instance, how long did Justin Gatlin’s career with the Texans last?

I have to believe that he’d be a Hester-like project, where he’d be a kick returner first and then grow into the WR position. I think it may take a full year to learn the first (he’s never done anything like this and football takes some getting used to) and a couple more before he joins the offense.

(Two parts here: the first addresses the possibility of Bolt playing, and the second addressed the hypothetical as framed by your last full sentence.)

Track athletes don’t succeed in the NFL unless they’ve already had a lot of football experience behind them. Here are a few thoughts:

Punt/kick returns: In either case, you have to keep your eyes up while a bunch of guys are bearing down on you with the intent of destroying you. It’s a little safer in kick returns, but even that ends up with head-on collisions under most non-touchback conditions. There would be a huge learning curve there, even if somebody gave him a shot.

Randy Moss-like WR: Even a wideout like Randy Moss (Minnesota vintage) has to run routes in traffic at times. That not only involves field awareness while running with guys intent on knocking you down the instant you get the ball, but it eventually involves some very awkward catching angles, stretching out for the ball, high-jumping for the ball with your ribs exposed, etc. Even a lot of simple down-the-sideline routes end in jump-ball style tussles with the CB and/or safety, and may include a safety with a perpendicular angle waiting for you to touch the ball so he can obliterate you.

Injury Risk: For as much as the ball catching/handling skillsets, the football knowledge skillsets, and the don’t-telegraph-your-route skillsets would have to develop, the injury avoidance training would be monumental. Bolt has trained for one thing only: straight-line speed. His body is not hardened up against the impacts, and his muscles – fantastic as they are – are not trained for the lateral accelerations, the stop-and-gos, and the stabilizations that an NFL player encounters. He would have to add significant bulk to shield his body and he would always be a high injury risk. Honestly, I doubt he’d make it through half of a season without a significant injury.

It’s not a knock against Bolt, but he’s trained for one specific group of skills (to near perfection) and the NFL requires a different set. He’d have the exact same problem in soccer, where the ball handling skills are so intricate.

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Having said all that, if Shanahan could find a speedster of Olympic medal caliber that could efficiently be trained up to NFL standards, then you’re right; his presence on the field would require a two-defender scheme; one for the short and one for the deep. Most likely, the safety would end up cheating toward his side of the field, leaving the other side more open for passing routes. He could also be a heck of a reverse guy.

everyone has there opinion an mine is if i were a gm i would sign him and see what happends there is only upside like i said

…every other game for excessive celebration.

http://www.break.com/index/usain-bolt-slow-motion-replay.html

I am sure Al Davis will sign him for something outragous, he will make some plays, but then get hit in the mouth by a strong safety and figure out there really is no point in putting your body through the punishment in the NFL when he can make the same or more money in Europe from track sponserships (lot bigger thing over there).

in Madden!!! He would absolutely fly.

In the real world, he is good at accelerating to full speed in a straight line or gentle curve – not while juking and getting hit. Like many runners before him, I cannot imagine him becoming a successful football player.