How does Kenyan Drake run so fast?
During the 2020 NFL season, only one NFL player ran faster with the football in his hands than former Alabama standout Kenyan Drake. Drake broke through the middle of the Dallas Cowboys defensive front and ran 69 yards for a touchdown with 1:49 remaining in the Arizona Cardinals 38-10 victory on Oct. 19. On his way to the end zone, Drake reached a speed of 22.11 mph. Only San Francisco 49ers running back Raheem Mostert exceeded that speed among NFL ball-carriers during the 2021 season, according to the leagues Next Gen Stats. Mostert reached 23.09 mph on an 80-yard touchdown run against the New York Jets on Sept. 20 and 22.73 mph on a 76-yard touchdown reception against the Cardinals on Sept. 13. Its kind of funny because its always the plays where you feel like youre not running that hard that youre running the fastest, Drake said while talking about the 22-mph mark during the Las Vegas Raiders mandatory minicamp earlier this month. Thats the one thing I remember being taught when I was running track in high school. It wasnt really exerting effort to really run fast. It was just opening your stride, being a smooth runner. Your stride will kind of take care of itself if youre a fast player in general, so when I saw I ran 22 miles per hour, like the second-fastest person behind Raheem Mostert, one of my guys, it was kind of a surprise because I felt like I wasnt really running that hard.  While running hard doesnt seem to produce speed, Drake said, working hard plays a part in having it. I always make sure that I do hill work, Drake said. Thats something I kind of learned from, like, those old-school guys like Jerry Rice and Walter Payton. Hill work really works on explosive speed, so thats definitely something I want to continue to implement into my offseason workouts.  During his NFL career, Drake has produced 29 plays from scrimmage that have gained at least 20 yards  a rate of 3.35 percent of his touches thats better than that of noted long-distance runner (and former Alabama teammate) Derrick Henry, the NFL rushing leader the past two seasons for the Tennessee Titans. And Drakes 20-yard-plus plays dont include a 96-yard kickoff return. Las Vegas coach Jon Gruden described Drake as a guy thats made big plays in explaining why the Raiders signed the running back to a two-year, $11 million contract as a free agent in March even though they had Josh Jacobs returning in the backfield. Also an Alabama alumnus, Jacobs has produced two 1,000-yard rushing seasons since joining the Raiders in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft and earned Pro Bowl recognition last season. I felt like playing in this league, not everybody can go out there and down-in and down-out do it by themselves, Drake said, so I felt like me coming in, helping him in that capacity would help extend his career, put me in a position to help this team just continue to play as well as they did last year and just add another element to my game and to their offense.  JOSH JACOBS, KENYAN DRAKE GIVE RAIDERS 1-2 ALABAMA PUNCH  Drake entered the NFL as a third-round choice of the Miami Dolphins in the 2016 NFL Draft. Halfway through the 2019 season, the Dolphins traded Drake to Arizona, where he had his first opportunity to be an NFL teams clear-cut No. 1 running back for an extended period. In 54 games with Miami, Drake ran for 1,532 yards and nine touchdowns on 333 carries and caught 116 passes for 936 yards and six touchdowns. In 23 games with Arizona, Drake ran for 1,598 yards and 18 touchdowns on 362 carries and caught 53 passes for 308 yards. Drake said hes excited to join the Raiders. Even from a distance, I feel like anybody kind of can relate to just the aura that the Raiders kind of bring, no matter the scenario, the year, Drake said. Its just this kind of swagger that you have to have going in the Silver and Black, and I feel like I want to epitomize that, and down-in and down-out, game-in and game-out play to that standard.  Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1. MORE NFL:   Derrick Brown, Jeremy Chinn anchor Panthers future   Alabama, Ohio State alumni leading Washington toward brightest lights   DeVonta Smith surprises his mother with a new house   Falcons coach terms Julio Jones trade a win-win   Browns rookie Anthony Schwartz: I feel like Im on the right track   Josh Jacobs comes around on Raiders revamped offensive line   Cody Parkey facing training-camp competition for Browns kicking job   Jets Quinnen Williams knows what counts