The impact of analytics in the world of the NFL continues to grow with each passing season, and the NFL Draft evaluation process is no exception. One popular formula that has emerged in recent years to help determine how athletic an incoming prospect is entering the NFL is called Relative Athletic Score (RAS).
What exactly goes into computing this score, and does it accurately project success at the NFL level?
What Is RAS?
For those unfamiliar with RAS, this evaluation formula — created by Kent Lee Platte — collects a multitude of a player’s testing metrics and physical attributes to generate a score to measure a prospect’s athleticism entering the NFL. The final number is determined by what percentile a player falls relative to their peers at a particular position.
The highest score a prospect can achieve in this tool is a 10. Prospects are graded on a scale of 1-10 for each contributing factor, which is a great reference point to help determine exactly how a player’s athleticism stacks up against incoming prospects at the same position to help aid the evaluation process.
What Measurements Contribute to RAS?
The algorithm that helps determine a prospect’s RAS can be broken into two different categories: physical measurements — which consist of a player’s height, weight, hand size, and arm length — and testing numbers — which can come from NFL Combine events/drills like the 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle, vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone, and bench press.
To help paint a picture of how individual testing numbers are translated into the model — if a WR has a vertical jump that lands in the 95th percentile for that position, the player would earn a score of 9.5 for that specific testing metric.
This data model certainly helps contextualize a player’s athletic profile relative to their peers in an easily digestible number.
Of course, the missing component from this specific tool relates to their in-game production, which removes the tape evaluation from the process. Still, this tool is specific to a player’s athleticism compared to their peers at their position.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the prospects who have registered the highest RAS grades according to this formula.
Most Athletic Players in the History of RAS
The NFL hasn’t seen a shortage of exceptional athletes enter the league over its rich history. Some perfect scores have been achieved according to this data model over the years that are worth revisiting.
Cam Newton’s elite combination of size and athleticism set a new gold standard for athleticism entering the league in 2011. His unique prospect profile translated to immense success at the next level, winning a league MVP award in 2015.
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Another signal-caller who turned heads with a spectacular performance at the NFL Combine was Anthony Richardson. His 4.43 time in the 40-yard dash at 6’4″, 244 pounds, helped send his draft stock through the roof. That ultimately saw the Indianapolis Colts use the fourth pick in the 2023 NFL Draft in hopes of finding their next franchise QB.
One position that has produced some athletic specimens over the years has been wide receiver. Perhaps no player had a more impressive athletic profile entering the league than Calvin Johnson, whose time of 4.4 in the 40-yard dash proved abnormally exceptional when considering his 6’5” 239-pound frame.
- Anthony Richardson, QB: 10.00 RAS
- Calvin Johnson, WR: 10.00 RAS
- Jeremy Chinn, DB: 10.00 RAS
- Deonte Banks, CB: 10.00 RAS
- Jarrod Cooper, SS: 10.00 RAS
- Justin Fargas, RB: 10.00 RAS
- Brian Johnston, DE: 10.00 RAS
- Lorenzo Carter, LB: 10.00 RAS
- Zach Kuntz, TE: 10.00 RAS
- Creed Humphrey, C: 10.00 RAS
- Spencer Brown, OT: 10.00 RAS
- Zyon McCollum, CB: 10.00 RAS
- Jordan Davis, DT: 10.00 RAS
- Troy Andersen, LB: 10.00 RAS
- Griffin Hebert, FB: 10.00 RAS
- Edgerrin James, RB: 10.00 RAS
- Evan Mathis, G: 10.00 RAS
- Matt Jones, WR: 10.00 RAS
- Manny Lawson, LB: 10.00 RAS
- Cam Newton, QB: 10.00 RAS
- Luke Kuechly, LB: 10.00 RAS
- Byron Jones, CB: 10.00 RAS
- Kristjan Sokoli, DT: 10.00 RAS
- Mohamed Amen, LS: 10.00 RAS
- David Buehler, PK: 10.00 RAS
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