Tag: Relative Athletic Score

Calijah Kancey will test the Saints’ commitments to their athletic prototypes

Pitt Panthers DT Calijah Kancey could give the Saints what they’re missing, but he’ll test their commitments to their athletic prototypes in the NFL draft:

You won’t find many 2023 NFL draft prospects with more New Orleans Saints fans chanting his name than Pitt Panthers defensive tackle Calijah Kancey. The playmaking lineman drew a lot of attention last season with his high level of play, and the mind-boggling numbers he put up in athletic testing at the NFL scouting combine and Pitt’s pro day have only rallied his supporters further.

He would make a lot of sense for New Orleans, which has moved on from four of their top five defensive linemen this offseason. Despite signing Nathan Shepherd and Khalen Saunders while bringing back Malcolm Roach, they could use Kancey in the interior rotation as a pass-rushing defensive tackle. Pro Football Focus charting credited him with 47 pressures last season, more than anyone in New Orleans.

But he’s going to test the Saints’ commitment to their athletic prototypes. The Saints are notoriously strict in their standards — they’ve fielded, drafted, or signed 20 defensive tackles since 2018 at an average height-weight combo of 6-foot-2 and 301 pounds, arms measuring at 32.9 inches. And Kancey doesn’t just fall beneath that average. In many cases he doesn’t meet the minimum.

Kancey has weighed in at 6-foot-1, 281 pounds with arms measuring 30.6 inches. Just three of their defensive tackles have measured shorter than that (Khalen Saunders, Prince Emili, and Christian Ringo), all 6-flat. None of them weighed lighter than that (Margus Hunt and Kentavius Street both weighed under 290 coming out of college but played at or near that weight by the time they came to New Orleans). And only two of them had arms measuring under 32 inches, both undrafted free agents, not first-round picks (Josiah Bronson at 31.5 and Malcolm Roach at 31.8).

Sure, we’ve seen the Saints buck their trends before. But it doesn’t happen often, and never to this degree on draft day. Kancey has drawn comparisons to another undersized former Panther, Aaron Donald, but Donald was a consistently dominant player in college and he was closer to the prototype than Kancey at 5 pounds heavier with arms 2 inches longer coming out of Pitt. He had a stronger case and it isn’t as strong a comparison as it appears at first glance.

And Saints head coach Dennis Allen has continued to hammer home his philosophy on emphasizing size in the trenches. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill asked him about the preference for oversized players at defensive end at NFL owners meetings this week, to which Allen responded: “I think it’s a big man’s game. And so, we like size and we like length, and it’s been successful for us. Really, honestly, both in the run game and in the pass game. I think since 2017 we’re top-five in run defense and top-five in sacking the quarterback. And top-five is a little generous, we’re closer to two or three in there.”

What the Saints have shown us in acquiring talent along the defensive line suggests that preference for bigger players extends to the tackles, not just the ends, as Allen laid it out. Still, New Orleans should give serious consideration to Kancey despite his shortcomings. But their strict standards and athletic prototypes might hurt his draft grade in-house, and there’s a real possibility they pass on him for someone who better fits what they’re looking for. It’s also possible Kancey doesn’t make it to them at No. 29 anyway. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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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:

Athletic player comparisons for the Detroit Lions 2022 draft class

The Detroit Lions 2022 draft class athleticism compares favorably to strong NFL players and gives an idea what might be on the horizon

The dust has settled on the second Detroit Lions draft class under Brad Holmes, and a theme is starting to become quite clear. Under the Holmes/Campbell regime, they value high character players, especially those who were team captains. On top of that, they covet prospects with primer athleticism.

Detroit walked away with one of the top athletic classes in the 2022 draft and will look to continue building its foundation with potential cornerstone players and strong depth rounding out the roster. We will get our first glimpse of these prospects with minicamp right around the corner, but what kind of comparisons can we make on these players?

Using Player Profiler’s best player comparison feature and the Relative Athletic Score (RAS) tool, we can create a picture of what we could expect from these prospects from an athletic perspective.

Here are the best comparisons for the Lions 2022 draft class.

Athletic player comparisons for all 11 of Packers’ 2022 draft picks

Comparing each of the Packers’ 11 draft picks in 2022 to a current or former NFL player based on athletic profile.

The Green Bay Packers got bigger and faster with another athletic class of draft picks in 2022.

Based on testing numbers, size and athletic profiles, it is possible to compare the new Packers to current or former NFL players in an effort to uncover clues about how each rookie will project to the next level. We used Relative Athletic Score to help guide the process.

Keep in mind, the Packers have specific types at all positions, making comps easier. Many of the players picked compare favorably to past Packers. However, in many cases, these are absolute best-case scenarios. What fun would this exercise be if the players weren’t compared to potential best-case scenarios?

Here is an athletic player comparison for each of the Packers’ 11 draft picks:

RAS grades for the Saints’ 5-man 2022 draft class

The New Orleans Saints love athletic prospects in the NFL draft. Here are the RAS grades for each of their five draft picks, via @RossJacksonNOLA:

Every team has trends and tendencies when it comes to the NFL draft. A recent one that’s been particularly noticeable throughout recent New Orleans Saints rookie classes has been the focus on athleticism. One metric which tracks that trait has become recently popularized and has been a pretty good indication of what the Saints look for in prospects: Relative Athletic Score (RAS).

RAS is a measurement of a player’s athletic testing in relation to both size and historic results. Each grade is based on a 0-10 point scale with 8 and above being considered “Great” or “Elite”. The Saints averaged a grade of 9.02, the fourth-highest in the NFL this season, so the traits they’re looking for are reflected well in RAS, even if they aren’t using this metric specifically. Enough factors line up to where we should be paying attention to who does well by in. With that in mind, here are the RAS grades from the Saints’ five-player draft class:

RAS cards for Packers’ 11-player draft class in 2022

The Relative Athletic Scores (RAS) of each of the Packers’ 11-player draft class in 2022.

The Green Bay Packers selected another highly athletic class of draft picks in 2022.

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 11 of the Packers’ draft picks in 2022:

Seahawks CB Coby Bryant has about an average Relative Athletic Score

Here’s a look at his athletic testing numbers which show a slightly-above average overall score, aided mostly by his size/strength.

The Seahawks never got a chance to draft Sauce Gardner, who went to the Jets at No. 4 overall in the draft. However, they got his partner in crime from the Cincinnati defense. After college quarterbacks eventually learned to stop throwing in Gardner’s direction (sound familiar?) they went after the guy on the other side – Coby Bryant – who was just selected by Seattle in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL draft at No. 109 overall.

Here’s a look at his athletic testing numbers which show a slightly-above average overall score, aided mostly by his size/strength. Bryant’s agility is a yellow flag, though.

Then again, we know RAS isn’t everything. If you can play your position well you can make a solid career in the NFL, as has been the case for Seattle free safety Quandre Diggs and free agent Tyrann Mathieu, DBs who both scored significantly lower in this metric than Bryant.

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What is the Relative Athletic Score of each Falcons draft pick?

We look at the Relative Athletic Scores for each Atlanta Falcons pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. #RAS

When it comes to the NFL draft, one thing that coaches and scouts will always be enamored with is athleticism. A fraction of a second can help a third-round prospect turn into a first-round pick, or cause a first-round talent to drop to Day Two.

As teams continue to look for ways to identify athleticism in incoming prospects, one metric that’s been on the rise in recent years is Relative Athletic Score. Created by Kent Lee Platte, RAS generates an overall score (maxing out at 10) for each player based on a combination of their testing data.

Let’s check out the RAS for each member of the Falcons’ 2022 draft class.

Seahawks Day 2 picks all have ridiculous Relative Athletic Scores

Here are the Relative Athletic Scores for the three draft picks Seattle has made tonight.

Athletic testing isn’t everything when it comes to winning in the NFL. Quandre Diggs has proven that much. That said, having above-average athleticism certainly doesn’t hurt and the Seattle Seahawks did pretty damn well in this department on Day 2.

Here are the Relative Athletic Scores for the three draft picks Seattle has made tonight.

Pick No. 40: Minnesota EDGE Boye Mafe: 9.91

Pick No. 41 Michigan State RB Kenneth Walker III: 9.24

Pick No. 72: Washington State RT Abraham Lucas: 9.73

The results are always a coinflip at best when it comes to NFL prospects. This is good process, though – even if there’s another early RB.

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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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