Quandre Diggs, Tyrann Mathieu show limits of athletic testing for NFL draft prospects

Meanwhile, there are plenty of bigger, faster, more athletic in general safeties who have washed out over the same time.

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Athleticism matters in the NFL, there’s no way around that. Just ask anybody who’s tried to block a pass rusher with Von Miller’s quickness or cover a receiver with a vertical like Julio Jones. There are limits to what athletic testing numbers can tell us about prospects heading into the draft, though. We witnessed a couple excellent examples of this on Twitter yesterday.

One of the best follows during draft season is Kent Lee Platte, who shares athletic testing numbers for prospects compared to others at their respective positions. Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs was one he posted yesterday. The results aren’t pretty.

Diggs himself got a kick out of it, admitting he’s not a tester.

Another interesting profile that Platte shared on Monday was that of free agent safety Tyrann Mathieu, who’s been one of the top DBs in the game over the last decade. Like Diggs, Mathieu’s scoring was relatively pathetic.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of bigger, faster, more athletic in general safeties who have washed out over the same time that Diggs and Mathieu have thrived in the league.

It goes to show that physical traits can only carry you so far and the top attribute scouts should look for is pure football ability.

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