Tag: Relative Athletic Score

Khristian Boyd didn’t meet Saints’ usual athletic marks, and it may not matter

Khristian Boyd had a poor Relative Athletic Score, but it didn’t turn off the normally-picky Saints. RAS creator Kent Lee Platte explains why it’s not a problem:

New Orleans Saints fans have keyed in on some of their team’s trends in scouting college players, and there’s one metric in particular that gets discussed leading up to the NFL draft: Relative Athletic Scores.

Developed by NFL analyst Kent Lee Platte, RAS is a composite score that inputs standard testing results from the NFL Scouting Combine and college pro days, then digests that information into a single number on a 10-point scale for ease of use. It’s valuable because there are thousands of players at every position group to compare against current prospects.

To be clear, the New Orleans Saints do not use RAS in their draft evaluations. But they do have similar in-house metrics which often correlate with RAS. So if a player scores well on the RAS scale, odds are he’ll also get a high grade from the Saints’ own internal metric.

Which makes it interesting that New Orleans’ sixth-round draft pick Khristian Boyd was so far out of alignment with the Saints’ usual tendencies. He posted a below-average 4.63 Relative Athletic Score with an incomplete profile, having not run the 40 yard dash, but that’s inconsequential for a 325-pound defensive tackle.

And a low RAS isn’t a harbinger for nose tackles like Boyd. We reached out to Platte for an explanation on why he feels Boyd could be successful in spite of a poor score in the system he created.

“Just that he’s a nose tackle who tested fine for a nose tackle,” Platte told Saints Wire. “Nose tackle is kind of in its own little world, it’s not broken out from defensive tackle in my database yet, but big guys like that don’t tend to test well, so it’s not a big concern. You want size, which he has. You want strength, which he has. He’s a bit lacking in length, but he was one of the most popular players for team visits so clearly it wasn’t much of an issue for them.”

Boyd travelled around the country to meet with 16 different teams before the draft and even turned down formal visits with others because he couldn’t fit them into his crowded schedule, so as Platte said, it’s obvious that teams were not turned off by so-so measurables. When you’re tipping the scales at 6-foot-2.5 and 325 pounds while cranking out 38 reps on the 225-pound bench press, it doesn’t really matter how high you can jump or how quickly you finish the pro shuttle. If Boyd is ever asked to sprint 40 yards during a game something has gone terribly wrong. What matters most is that he has NFL size and prodigious strength, even by NFL standards.

Will Boyd enjoy success with the Saints? He has one of the clearest paths to playing as a rookie out of everyone the team added over the weekend. Nathan Shepherd, Bryan Bresee, and Khalen Saunders are ahead of him on the depth chart. It’ll be either Boyd, John Penisini, Jack Heflin, or Kyler Baugh taking the fourth spot in the rotation which Malcolm Roach vacated by signing with the Denver Broncos. That’s a great opportunity. Now he needs to seize it. If he can make an impact early on, he might push Saunders aside as the team’s primary nose tackle. But that’s easier said than done when making the leap from a small school like Northern Iowa. Just ask Trevor Penning.

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Saints hosted Penn State pass rusher Chop Robinson for pre-draft visit

Add Chop Robinson to the list of prospects meeting the Saints before the 2024 NFL draft. The Penn State pass rusher already visited New Orleans:

One of the New Orleans Saints’ pre-draft visits almost slipped under the radar. Penn State pass rusher Demeioun “Chop” Robinson told the Daily Collegian’s Sam Woloson that he visited the Saints the week before the school’s March 15 pro day; the same week in which the team met with Northern Iowa defensive tackle Khristian Boyd at their headquarters in Metairie. Robinson is an impressive athlete, and he can move and make plays unlike anyone else the Saints have at defensive end.

Robinson, 21, weighed in at a hair under 6-foot-3 and 254 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine, and he put up great numbers in athletic testing drills: timing the 40-yard dash in 4.48 seconds and clocking the short shuttle in 4.25 seconds, with a 6.94-second mark inn the three-cone drill at his pro day. He also leapt 34.5 inches vertically and 10 feet, 8 inches broad. That combined in a 9.79 Relative Athletic Score, which is well within the range that lines up with the Saints’ own in-house metrics.

He’s undersized by New Orleans’ standards, but both head coach Dennis Allen and college scouting director Jeff Ireland have expressed an eagerness to add different body types and more versatile athletes at defensive end than they’ve valued before. After tying for the fourth-fewest sacks in the NFL last season, they can’t afford to be so picky.

And Robinson could be a good get. He’s commonly projected to go in the first round, possibly as early as to the Saints at No. 14, though most mock drafts have him being picked after other players like UCLA’s Laiatu Latu and Florida State’s Jared Verse. He had 17.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks in 22 games at Penn State, having started his college career at Maryland. Pro Football Focus charting credited him with 48 pressures in 2022 (12 games) and 26 of them in 2023 (10 games), when he missed time with an unspecified head injury after a bad collision against Ohio State. He’s healthy now and hoping to put his best foot forward when meeting with NFL teams like the Saints.

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RASmatazz: Athleticism not a problem for Cowboys’ projected OL

If the Cowboys are forced to play with their current offensive line projection, their Relative Athletic Scores should provide optimism. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys offensive line is in a state of flux. LT Tyron Smith and OC Tyler Biadasz left in free agency opening up enormous holes in the starting lineup. Dallas would like to fill at least one of those vacancies with a rookie draft pick this April. But with so many roster needs and so much unpredictability in the draft, there’s no telling how successful that strategy will be.

If the Cowboys fail in their attempts to fill these starting roles through the draft, they will need to get creative with their preexisting internal options. While there is definitely room for growth in performance, the underlying core trait of athleticism is certainly in the house for the majority of the projected starters if the team is unable to augment the group.

The general consensus the team moving Tyler Smith to LT, T.J. Bass taking over at LG, Brock Hoffman elevating to OC, Zack Martin staying at RG and Terence Steele giving it another go at RT.

The Smith-Bass-Hoffman-Martin-Steele quintet isn’t ideal, but it would allow the Cowboys to focus on other needs like DT, RB and LB early. Bass, Hoffman and Steele are all young undrafted players and would give Dallas a low-pedigree offensive line in 2024.

Is it realistic to think that would work? Is it even realistic to think the Cowboys would allow such an experiment to take place?

Under Will McClay the Cowboys have frequently leaned on the analytics of the prospects in order to make draft decisions. They believe in measurables such as arm length, wingspan, height, weight, and explosiveness in making their draft decisions. Players often need to meet minimum thresholds to be considered in Dallas. How they stack up against other NFL players at their position matters so no one should take Combine numbers or pro day numbers lightly.

Relative Athletic Score (RAS) is a metric used to gauge an NFL draft prospect’s athletic standing relative to the position in which he plays. Using measurables such as height, weight, speed, and other athletic drills, RAS creator Kent Lee Platte can compare a prospect against his positional peers to show teams how this player stacks up against others in the NFL.

RAS is exactly the type of thing the Cowboys care about when making draft decisions. It’s not the end-all be-all in the process nor is it more important than film, but it plays a critical role in determining future success.

Despite being undrafted, Steele and Bass both posted excellent RAS scores as prospects. Bass’s 40-yard dash was his only true blemish but his size, strength and 10-yard split more than made up for it. Steele’s explosiveness wasn’t great but his physical measurements and speed were top notch.

The weak link on this proposed lineup is without question at center with Hoffman. Hoffman’s RAS is less than inspiring which is why Bass might be considered in the mix at center if a plug-and-play LT is acquired early in the draft.

None of this data indicates the quality of play these players will deliver but it shows at least four of them have the physical ability to form a good offensive line and that’s certainly a step in the right direction.

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2023 NFL draft: RAS scores for every Patriots rookie

How do the RAS scores look for the Patriots’ 2023 NFL draft class?

The New England Patriots entered the 2023 NFL draft with 11 picks and came out with 12 players. It could be seen as a situation of coach Bill Belichick throwing as many darts at the board as possible just to see what sticks.

But make no mistake, these weren’t aimless throws.

In a draft that was heavy on the defensive side of the ball, the Patriots opened up by taking three defenders that could be foundational playmakers of the future for the team. They also addressed the offensive line by adding three interior enforcers, along with taking a flier on two promising receivers for the skilled positions.

They even came away with a kicker and punter in this year’s draft. Belichick checked every box and didn’t let a single pick go to waste. We’ll see if it pays off in the 2023 season.

Today, we’re looking at every Patriots rookie’s Relative Athletic Score (RAS), which is a tool created by Kent Lee Platte that measures a player’s athletic testing to their size, while also taking history into account. The Patriots came away with at least four players with a 9.00 score or higher.

Here’s how the entire 2023 rookie class scored:

2023 Saints draft class: Consensus rankings, Relative Athletic Scores for every rookie

We’re breaking down the 2023 Saints draft class with consensus rankings and Relative Athletic Scores for every rookie pick and free agent:

Things are finally beginning to wind down for the New Orleans Saints after the 2023 NFL draft. They’ve made all of their picks and reached agreements with a dozen undrafted free agents, which makes for quite an impressive rookie class. So let’s recap the last few days of movement in New Orleans to gauge the haul the Saints have put together.

We’re using two tools: the Industry Consensus Big Board from Pro Football Network’s Arif Hasan; and the Relative Athletic Score, or RAS, from  Kent Lee Platte. This gives us a loose idea of where these players slot in among their peers from media rankings as well as athletic standards, though it isn’t a perfect approach — besides the variance and quirks of each reference tool, some draft prospects either didn’t make the cut for the top-300 rankings or didn’t complete athletic testing to earn a score.

Still, it’s a good starting point to work off of as we dig deeper in the newest members of the team. Let’s run through the list:

2023 NFL draft: RAS scores for new Vikings rookie class

The Minnesota Vikings added six players in their 2023 rookie class and their Relative Athletic Scores provide some intrigue.

The 2023 NFL draft class is finalized and the Minnesota Vikings welcome six players: a wide receiver, two defensive backs, a defensive tackle, a running back and a quarterback.

When you take a look at this group of players, they have some intriguing RAS scores.

RAS — or Relative Athletic Score — was created by Kent Lee Platte. It takes the testing numbers and tells you what percentile their scores are given a score between 0-10. For example, a 5.53 means that the metric is in the 55.3rd percentile of all prospects at their position throughout history.

Here’s a look at each Vikings’ draft pick and their RAS score.

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:

Is Jack Campbell destined as the NFL’s next star linebacker?

After a legendary Iowa career, is Jack Campbell destined for NFL greatness? His NFL Combine numbers indicate that he just might be.

Jack Campbell was the heart and soul of the Iowa defense, and may just be the future backbone for some NFL team’s defensive unit.

Campbell was one of the most productive tacklers in the nation, topping 125 combined tackles in both years as a starter. He was also the best-graded coverage linebacker in the draft by Pro Football Focus. Campbell took home many awards after this season, including the Dick Butkus Award, given to the best linebacker in the nation.

Despite athletic concerns, Campbell backed up the stellar stats and play on film with a NFL Combine for the ages, posting some of the best linebacker numbers of all time. Seriously, Campbell is one of the best athletes at the position to enter the draft if you go by his combine scores.

According to Relative Athletic Score creator Kent Lee Platte on Twitter, Campbell’s score is ranked sixth out of 2,600 linebackers since 1987. Let that sink in for a second. Of all the great linebackers to enter the draft over the past few decades, Campbell has the sixth-highest Relative Athletic Score. So much for athletic concerns.

Jack Campbell enters the NFL Draft as a collegiate star and just looking at the athletic numbers, he just might be on the road to NFL stardom. Just take a look at some of the past greats that Campbell stacks up to.

Saints to host Oklahoma State safety Jason Taylor II on pre-draft visit

The Saints plan to host Oklahoma State safety Jason Taylor II on a pre-draft visit, meeting with one of this year’s top ballhawks:

This is interesting. The New Orleans Saints plan to host Oklahoma State safety Jason Taylor II on a visit ahead of the 2023 NFL draft, per KPRC 2 Houston’s Aaron Wilson. Taylor led the Big 12 in interceptions (6) last season and is one of college football’s best ballhawks, with 19 career passes defensed the last two years. He’s started 27 of the 54 games he played in college, including 26 of his last 27 appearances.

He also nails the physical prototype the Saints value at defensive back, carrying his 204 pounds well with a 5-foot-11.5 and 32-inch arms (for a 78.2-inch wingspan). He moves really well and plays smart football, and didn’t draw a single penalty flag on 2,496 career snaps on both defense and special teams, where he ran with five of the six kicking units. Missed tackles were an issue for him but he’s aggressive in run defense, and that’s something the Saints can work on with him.

Taylor looks like an ideal third-day pick between rounds four and seven. He’ll make an immediate impact on special teams while offering depth at safety. He’s played all over the field for the Cowboys with 400-plus snaps in the slot to boot. Between his college experience, playmaking ability, and Relative Athletic Score (8.9), he looks the part of a Saints draft pick. We’ll see where he ends up.

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