Tag: RAS

Athletic player comparisons for the Detroit Lions 2023 draft class

The Detroit Lions 2023 draft class has some interesting player comparisons based on relative athletic score, or RAS

The 2023 NFL is now behind us and it is time to start looking at the possibilities the newly added players can bring to the Detroit Lions. Even though this is not as an athletic class as years past, General Manager Brad Holmes’ new found confidence brought in players who can compete for starting spots right from the get go. Sure, some may say where the players were taken was not in line with positional value, but it is hard to deny that the Lions brought in strong football players to round out their roster.

We always like to compare player and see what their potential may become in the NFL. With the use of the Relative Athletic Score (RAS) tool, we were able compare the Lions 2023 draft class to current and former NFL players and possibly get an idea of the capacity they might be able to bring for the Lions.

Here are the best comparisons for the Lions 2023 draft class.

Falcons 2023 draft class: Relative Athletic Scores

Falcons 2023 draft class: Relative Athletic Scores for each pick and undrafted free agent

Ever since the Atlanta Falcons hired general manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Arthur Smith in 2021, the roster has been constructed with an emphasis on physicality and versatility.

As NFL teams look for different ways to maximize the draft, innovative metrics are playing a greater role. Relative Athletic Score has become one of the most useful tools for evaluating a player’s athleticism. It combines different prospect data to generate an overall athletic score from 0-10.

Now that the 2023 NFL draft is in the books, let’s check out the RAS scores for each Falcons draft pick and undrafted free agent signing.

Relative Athletic Scores for each Bucs draft pick

The Bucs drafted quite a few physical specimens in this year’s draft.

The NFL draft is over, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have their new class of drafted rookies.

The Buccaneers drafted eight new players from Thursday to Saturday, and it’ll soon be time to see how they fare at the NFL level. There are mental tools needed to truly succeed, but a lot of it is also the physical side — a side that can be measured in numerous ways.

One of those ways is Relative Athletic Score, or RAS, created by Kent Lee Platte. RAS takes all of a player’s combine measurements and ranks them from 1-10 based on the positon that player plays. This measurement has been used to evaluate players against each other and even against other prospects years back.

The Bucs drafted some incredible athletes and some that aren’t so much in the 2023 draft: Check out all their scores below:

How athletic is the Chiefs’ 2023 NFL draft class?

Check out the RAS cards for the #Chiefs’ 2023 NFL draft class, plus a few key undrafted free agents:

Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach is learning from his mistakes in his first draft class back in 2018 and continues to invest in athleticism in the NFL draft.

Veach’s latest draft class in 2023 is one of his most athletic yet. How do we know that it’s one of the most athletic classes? We have Kent Lee Platte to thank, also known as MathBomb on Twitter, the creator of Relative Athletic Score (RAS). This 10-point scale measures a prospect’s athletic ability based on their testing results during the pre-draft process (combine or pro day) in relation to the prospect’s size along with historical results from prospects who play the same position.

Here’s a quick look through at the RAS cards for all seven of the Chiefs’ draft picks in 2023, along with a few of their top undrafted free agents as a bonus:

2023 NFL draft: RAS scores for the Commanders’ 7-player class

The new Commanders posted elite Relative Athletic Score numbers.

The Washington Commanders entered the 2023 NFL draft with a purpose in mind. Head coach Ron Rivera wanted multi-year college starters with high character, positional flexibility and elite athleticism.

Washington added terrific athletes in the secondary, Emmanuel Forbes and Jartavius Martin, two athletic offensive linemen, Ricky Stromberg and Braeden Daniels and a pair of long, athletic pass rushers.

Kent Lee Platte of RAS.football developed a model called the Relative Athletic Score that measures a player’s athletic testing in relation to size and historical context.

Platte’s model grades players on a 1-10 scale. Here’s how Platte’s model graded the Commanders’ 7-player class.

RAS cards for Packers’ 13-player draft class in 2023

Highlighting the Relative Athletic Scores (RAS) of all 13 picks made by the Packers in the 2023 NFL draft.

The Green Bay Packers selected another highly athletic class of draft picks in 2023.

How do we know it’s another athletic class? Relative Athletic Score (RAS).

What’s Relative Athletic Score? It’s a metric developed by Kent Lee Platte. The idea is simple: RAS measures a prospect’s athletic testing results from the combine or a pro day in relation to the prospect’s size and historical results from players at the same position. It’s a genius way of combining all the relative factors into one simple metric on a 10-point sliding scale.

Here’s a quick look through at the RAS cards for all 13 of the Packers’ draft picks in 2023:

Lukas Van Ness continues Packers’ trend of elite athletes in first round

Lukas Van Ness continued Brian Gutekunst’s now six-year trend of drafting nothing but elite athletes in the first round.

The Green Bay Packers’ selection of Iowa edge rusher Lukas Van Ness at No. 13 overall on Thursday night continued a now six-year run from general manager Brian Gutekunst of drafting nothing but elite athletes in the first round.

Van Ness is 6-5 and 271 pounds, and his Relative Athletic Score is 9.39 out of 10.0, the seventh-best score among edge rushers in the draft class. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.58 seconds and aced the agility drills, completing the short shuttle in 4.32 seconds and the three-cone in 7.02 seconds.

Van Ness is in the 88th percentile for height, 98th percentile for straight-line speed and 90th percentile for short-area quickness among edge rushers in draft classes from 1987-2023. He also has long arms (34 1/2″) and huge hands (11″). Overall, Van Ness is the tallest edge rusher and third heaviest edge rusher among Dane Brugler’s top 15 edge rushers in the draft class. His speed score is in the 96th percentile at the position.

Player Profiler ranked Van Ness as the second-most athletic edge rusher and ninth-most athletic player in the draft class overall.

With height, bulk and incredible movement ability, Van Ness looks like a player custom made to play outside linebacker for the Packers.

Getting a disruptive player at edge rusher almost always requires acquiring an elite athlete. The position must consistently beat 300-pound offensive tackles with either power or speed. Van Ness has both, upping the chances of him being a hit. In fact, his athletic profile is usually a hit; among his best RAS comparables are Trey Hendrickson, Jared Allen, Tray Walker, Preston Smith and Ezekiel Ansah.

The Packers once rolled the dice on an elite athlete at edge rusher in the Big Ten, and it worked out beautifully with Rashan Gary, who had a couple of seasons to develop behind veterans before becoming a full-time player. The same pathway is ahead of Van Ness, who packs a big punch as a power player and has the size and athleticism to play all over the defensive front but probably needs time to develop a better pass-rushing and block-beating arsenal.

Including Van Ness, all eight of Gutekunst’s first-round picks since taking over in 2018 have a RAS of 8.0 or better, including six (and four in a row) over 9.0. The average RAS of Gutekunst’s eight first-rounders? 9.28.

Year Player School RAS
2018 Jaire Alexander Louisville 9.54
2019 Rashan Gary Michigan 9.95
2019 Darnell Savage Maryland 8.35
2020 Jordan Love Utah State 8.46
2021 Eric Stokes Georgia 9.38
2022 Quay Walker Georgia 9.63
2022 Devonte Wyatt Georgia 9.56
2023 Lukas Van Ness Iowa 9.39

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Which first-round prospects in 2023 draft meet Packers’ athleticism and age tendencies?

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has tendencies in the first round. Young, elite athletes. Who fits the mold in the 2023 draft class?

Although the selection of Devonte Wyatt provides an outlier, the five-year draft history of Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst paints a fairly clear picture in terms of first-round preferences: this team wants young, elite athletes on Day 1.

Wyatt was 24 when selected last year, but the six other first-round picks, including Quay Walker, were either 21 or 22 years old with a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 8.0 or higher. Of the seven first-rounders, five were 21 years old, and five had a RAS of 9.0 or higher.

Year Player Age RAS
2018 Jaire Alexander 21 9.54
2019 Rashan Gary 21 9.95
2019 Darnell Savage 21 8.35
2020 Jordan Love 21 8.46
2021 Eric Stokes 22 9.38
2022 Quay Walker 21 9.63
2022 Devonte Wyatt 24 9.60

Obviously, the Packers were comfortable deviating some from these tendencies. Taking Walker was an outlier in terms of positional value, while Wyatt was a big outlier in terms of age. Still, the age and athleticism tendencies can provide a road map to locating who could be prime first-round options for the Packers in 2023.

Let’s take a look, using NFL Mock Draft Database’s consensus big board as a guide. Criteria: top 50 big board, 22 years old or younger, RAS of 8.0 or higher. Why the top 50? Walker was the consensus No. 49 player last year.

Short list of Packers-specific draft prospects following NFL combine

Using RAS and the team’s usual size/athleticism thresholds, we can cut down the list of most likely prospects for the Packers in the 2023 NFL draft.

With the 2023 NFL Combine now in the books, here is a position-by-position look at the top performers, which very much pertains to the Green Bay Packers.

Relative Athletic Score is something that fans of the Packers should be familiar with. While I don’t imagine that Brian Gutekunst is scrolling Kent Lew Platte’s website, there is a connection between his selections and how well they score on the RAS scale.

In short, RAS takes all of the measurements and drills from the NFL combine or a Pro Day and computes an easily comparable score that ranges from 0 to 10, with 10 being the elite of the elite. Because it is relative to each specific position group, a running back and a defensive tackle can have the same RAS, even though they will test and measure quite differently. These figures can also be compared historically and not only within the current year’s draft class.

The reason that this is noteworthy for the Packers is that during Gutey’s tenure as GM, he has made 42 RAS-eligible draft picks, with 30 of them posting better than 8.0 and 18 above 9.0. Although there are exceptions to the rule, typically, if a player scores below 8.0, they aren’t going to end up as Packers.

Below I’ve compiled a list of which players from each position group posted a RAS of at least 8.0, along with some observations from the combine. To take this one step further, using two articles from Daire Carragher of Packer Report as references, I’ll further cross players off the list if they don’t meet other thresholds that Green Bay often adheres to.

Trying to figure out who Green Bay is going to select, especially under Gutekunst, can be a nearly impossible task, but hopefully, by going through this exercise, we narrow the list of prospects down and highlight a few potential future members of the Packers.

Top RAS performers by position from the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine

Who produced a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 8.0 or higher at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine? We list them all, position by position.

The Green Bay Packers and the 31 other NFL teams all want one thing: good football players who are big, fast and explosive athletes. It’s the reason why every team congregates in Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine every year. And it’s why tracking the athleticism of draft prospects is such an important part of the evaluation puzzle.

The Packers have been one of the most strict teams in terms of using athletic performance as a foundational part of the pre-draft process. While the team probably doesn’t use Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Score (RAS) metric, you can bet the Packers have something close to it based on previous draft history.

Here are the top performers (8.0 RAS or higher) by position from the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine: