John Ellis Ross III (born November 27, 1995) is an American professional football wide receiver.

As a senior, Ross finished third in the 100 metres at the 2013 CIF Southern Section Division 1 final, with a time of 10.66 seconds.

He injured his shoulder earlier during the 2016 season, and re-aggravated it on December 31 in a loss against Alabama in the 2016 Peach Bowl in the College Football Playoff.

The injury required surgery, but Ross decided to put it on hold until after the NFL Scouting Combine and pro day workouts.

He was considered one of the top wide receivers and was ranked the second best by NFL analyst Bucky Brooks before the combine.

The calf injuries hindered his ability to complete all the set combine drills or run his second attempt at the 40-yard dash.

[17][18] Ross' 4.22 40 yard dash time would stand as the NFL Combine record for 7 years, broken by Xavier Worthy in 2024 with a 4.21.

[27][28] Ross competed with Brandon LaFell, Cody Core, Tyler Boyd and Josh Malone throughout training camp to be the starting wide receiver alongside A. J.

Although he was a first round pick, head coach Marvin Lewis named him the sixth wide receiver on the depth chart to begin the regular season.

[29] On September 14, 2017, Ross made his professional regular season debut on Thursday Night Football against the Houston Texans after missing the season-opener due to a knee injury.

[31] His debut season was variously described as "wasted",[32] "disappointing"[33] and "disastrous",[34] with Lewis coming under some criticism for his management of Ross.

[37] During Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks, Ross posted seven catches for 158 receiving yards and two touchdowns, but the Bengals lost a close game, 21–20.

[38] During Week 2 against the San Francisco 49ers, Ross finished with four catches for 112 receiving yards and a touchdown as the Bengals lost, 41–17.

He was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team on August 12, after he left training camp to tend to his son who tested positive for the virus.

In a week 4 game against the New Orleans Saints, Ross saw his first playing time of the season due to injuries to wide receivers Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton.