The Redskins Blog

DeAngelo Hall Discusses Darrell Green

When I heard that Redskins Hall of Fame cornerback Darrell Green had celebrated his fiftieth birthday by running a 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds, I was actually skeptical. I mean, yes, Green has always been fast. And, yes, Green has kept himself in excellent shape. But … I don’t know, for some reason I found this a bit difficult to believe.

One person who wasn’t skeptical, though? Current Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall. Impressed, but not skeptical. “It’s definitely special, man, to get out there at fifty years old and run that fast,” Hall told me.
“But Darrell was a great athlete, and I don’t think he gets his due credit,” he continued. “Everybody thinks he was fast, but when you think of athletically, I don’t think people put him in the same sentence as a Deion Sanders. But I think he might be a better athlete than Deion, actually. Deion was a lot more flashy, but I think Darrell Green consistently shut it down athletically. And not just ‘shut receivers down,’ I’m speaking totally athletically.”

Hall estimates that he currently would run a sub 4.3 40, so he could probably beat Green now, but what about in their respective primes? “I think Darrell’s fastest 40 was 4.19,” Hall said, “and mine’s 4.15. So I think even in his heyday it would’ve been a nice battle.”

Especially because Hall actually underestimated Green’s best 40 time by a full tenth of a second: unofficial records place Green’s best time as 4.09.

Which is one reason that Hall is going to be spending some time this offseason training with the Hall of Famer. “It’s gonna be fun,” Hall said. “We’re gonna do footwork drills, speed drills. I’m just excited to get out there with Darrell Green.”

Just don’t expect Hall to post a 4.43 when he turns fifty. ” That’s in about 24 years,” Hall said. “When I’m fifty, I hope I don’t EVER have to run.”

Hall also talked about his new position coach Bob Slowik. Read that here.