08/17/2026
Jalen Carter described what it's like to line up across from someone who got faster. He'd know โ he's the one on the field.
The confusion came from the desk. And honestly, that part's fair. Adam Schefter breaks NFL news better than anyone alive. Nobody ever asked him to understand how the human body adapts, and he shouldn't be expected to.
What concerns me is who ends up holding the microphone. In this sport the most trusted voices usually belong to people with no direct experience playing or training it. So when something about the body gets said up there, it doesn't land as one guy's guess. It lands as fact โ with parents, with coaches, with a fourteen-year-old who now quietly believes he was born as fast as he's ever going to be.
Speed is trainable. It responds at 18, at 28, and at 38. Age changes your recovery and how long the build takes. It doesn't decide whether the quality moves.
Break the news. Cover the game. Leave the human body to the people who work in it.