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UPDATE: I was mistaken. The competition will not be streamed online, but rather will be on pay-per-view.
June 29 ... PPV
— 40 Yards of Gold (@40YardsofGold) June 11, 2019
Original story follows.
We’ve talked at length about 40 Yards of Gold, the upcoming tournament that will attempt to determine the fastest player in the National Football League. Two members of the Minnesota Vikings will be taking part in the festivities, and we now know who both of them will be taking on in the opening round.
Vikings’ wide receiver Jeff Badet will be going head-to-head against San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Richie James on the “offense” side of the bracket.
James was a seventh-round pick of the 49ers in the 2018 NFL Draft, and caught 9 passes for 130 yards and one touchdown for the Niners last season. He also served as a kick returner, returning 23 kicks for an average of 25.2 yards/return, including a 97-yard touchdown. According to our friends at Niners Nation, James has a 40-yard dash time of 4.48 seconds.
Badet, as we know, spent 2018 on the Vikings’ practice squad after going undrafted, and the Vikings paid him an extra $75,000 to keep him from moving on to a different team this offseason. He was not invited to the 2018 Scouting Combine, but at his pro day at Kentucky Oklahoma, he ran a faster 40 than anyone that was in Indianapolis, clocking in at 4.27 seconds.
On the defensive side of the bracket, Vikings’ cornerback Trae Waynes will be going head-to-head against another 2018 draftee, as he will be taking on Carolina Panthers’ cornerback Donte Jackson.
Jackson was the Panthers’ second-round pick in 2018 out of LSU, and ran his 40-yard dash in 4.32 seconds at his LSU Pro Day that year. He was also an accomplished member of the LSU track and field team.
At the 2015 Scouting Combine, Waynes also ran a 40-yard dash of 4.32 seconds, making him the fastest defensive back at the workouts that year.
The 40 Yards of Gold Tournament will be taking place on Saturday, 29 June, from the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. It appears that the only way to watch it is going to be via online stream, but if we find out anything different, we’ll pass it along.