Regardless of the position they play on the field, when it comes to college prospects, NFL scouts place a premium on athleticism over almost all other traits.
One way to measure a prospect’s athletic profile is by looking at their Relative Athletic Scores. This metric, which goes by “RAS” for short, was created by Kent Lee Platte as a way to combine all of a prospect’s relevant testing data into one composite athletic score from 1-10. Some of the Atlanta Falcons’ draft picks from this year aren’t just among the best in the class, but some of the best to ever grade out in terms of RAS ratings.
Stanford center Drew Dalman (9.90), Texas DL Ta’Quon Graham (9.68), TE Kyle Pitts (9.66) are the team’s highest-graded rookies in terms of Relative Athletic Score. Dalman’s RAS is the sixth-highest grade a center prospect has gotten since 1987.
Take a look at the RAS cards from all nine of the Falcons’ 2021 NFL draft selections below. Plus, make sure to follow @MathBomb on Twitter for some great insight into this year’s draft class.