Darrius Heyward-Bey recorded a 4.30 second 40 yard dash at the combine. He's quite fast and there's very little doubt about it. One DH-B scouting report even had this to say:
Runs like a gazelle that the lions cannot catch once he is in space with the football. He has long strides that are as smooth and effortless as it gets.
It should then stand to reason that a strong safety with a 40 time leaning toward 4.6 would be left eating dust when the gazelle shakes free into the Serengeti. That is, if 40 times are the ultimate measure of speed on a football field. It's right about now that you may ask yourself what, exactly, am I blithering on about?
You know how it goes with YouTube; you search to find one specific highlight and before you know it you've watched a handful of other related clips. So it happens that over the weekend, while watching a clip of Brian Robiskie, a Heyward-Bey video followed. Do yourself a favor and skip to 4:38 or so.
Did you happen to notice the fine young gentleman in the blue shirt closing on Heyward-Bey like a Post Office at 5 PM? That, my friends, was Michael Hamlin.