Today I wanted to look at the data from Kent Lee Platt’s Relative Athletic Scores (RAS) for the running backs. Here is a link to his website in case you haven’t seen his work https://ras.football/. To qualify for a RAS score, a player must have a total of six recorded metrics from any of the following: Height, Weight, Forty-yard dash, Twenty-yard split, Ten-yard split, Bench Press, Vertical Jump, Broad Jump, Short Shuttle, and 3-Cone. The player is then graded on each in comparison to the positional database since 1987 to get more of a feel of their size, speed, explosion, agility, and total value, giving context to the raw numbers.
The goal of the series is to provide the RAS from Platt, with a bit of my own twist with a size score and visualize it to get a simultaneous view of all the players at their position that participated at the combine. Here are the players that qualified (NOTE: Positions are grouped from the combine results tracker compiled by Dave Bryan and Alex Kozora):
Here we can see 28 of the 35 qualifying players with an above five RAS and six of them with above nine scores. Iowa State running back Breece Hall has elite speed and explosion with good size along with a strong 9.96 RAS! Arizona State running back Rachaad White also has elite speed and explosion with good size. Georgia running back Zamir White has elite speed along with good size and explosion. After a slight drop off is Iowa running back Tyler Goodson who has elite speed and agility, great explosion, but poor size. South Dakota State running back Pierre Strong Jr. has elite speed, great explosion, good agility, and okay size. The final player in this group is Michigan State running back Kenneth Walker who has elite speed, good explosion, but poor size.
Three players have an above eight RAS, starting with Rutgers running back Isiaih Pacheco who has elite speed, good size and agility, and okay explosion. Georgia running back James Cook has elite speed, good explosion, and okay size. USC running back Keontay Ingram has great speed, good size and explosion, but poor agility.
After a drop off, we see six players with an above seven RAS. Florida International running back D’Vonte Price has elite speed, good size, okay explosion, but very poor agility. Washington State running back Max Borghi has great speed, good explosion, okay agility, but poor size. BYU running back Tyler Allgeier has good size and speed along with okay explosion and agility. South Carolina running back Kevin Harris has elite explosion, good size, okay speed, but poor agility. Florida running back Dameon Pierce has good explosion with okay size and speed. The final player in this group is Ole Miss running back Snoop Conner has good size and speed but poor explosion.
Eight players have an above six RAS, beginning with Cincinnati running back Jerome Ford who has great speed, okay size and agility, but poor explosion. LSU running back Ty Davis-Price has great speed, good size, but poor explosion and agility. Alabama running back Brian Robinson Jr. has elite size, great speed, but poor explosion and very poor agility. Baylor running back Abram Smith has great speed, good size and explosion, but poor agility. Missouri running back Tyler Badie has elite speed, good explosion and agility, but very poor size. North Carolina running back Ty Chandler has elite speed, okay size and explosion, but very poor agility. West Virginia running back Leddie Brown has good size and agility, okay speed, but poor explosion. The final player in this group is Ole Miss running back Jerrion Ealy, who has great speed, good explosion, okay agility, but very poor size.
There are five players with an above five RAS. Oklahoma running back Kennedy Brooks has good speed along with okay size, explosion, and agility. Fresno State running back Ronnie Rivers has good speed, explosion, and agility but very poor size. North Carolina State running back Zonovan Knight has great agility, okay size and okay, but poor explosion. Texas A&M running back Isaiah Spiller has great size, okay speed, but very poor explosion. The final player of this group is Florida State running back Jashaun Corbin who has good agility along with okay size, speed, and explosion.
Now for the players with below five scores, which is below average with the historical data. Four players land above a four RAS, starting with Baylor running back Trestan Ebner who has elite speed, okay size, but poor explosion and agility. Oklahoma State running back Jaylen Warren has good speed, okay explosion, but poor size and agility. After a drop off, we see San Diego State running back Greg Bell who has okay speed, explosion, and agility but poor size. South Carolina running back ZaQuandre White has good size and explosion but poor speed and very poor agility.
The final three players have a RAS below four, beginning with UTSA running back Sincere McCormick who has okay speed and explosion but poor size and agility. Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams has okay speed and agility but poor size and explosion. After a drop off we see the final running back, Oregon’s CJ Verdell who has good speed but poor explosion and very poor size along with his low RAS of 2.33!
Next, I wanted to provide context with a size score using the RAS for the players height and weight, which includes all the combine invites since all the players are measured:
Right away we can see the value of the scores from a Steelers perspective, with their strong tendency of drafting bigger backs and two guys fitting the bill with above nine size scores. Up first is Michigan running back Hassan Haskins and the Steelers have shown obvious interest in him with a pre-draft visit and pro day attendance, but unfortunately he was the only player that didn’t qualify for a RAS. Robinson Jr. is the other and pairs this with a mid-six RAS.
After a huge drop off, Spiller is the only player with an above eight size score along with his mid-five RAS. Several players land in the seven size score range, starting with Ingram who has a high seven size score, pairing this with a mid-eight RAS. ZaQuandre White follows along with his fourth lowest RAS in the low fours. White is close behind and has a much better RAS in the high nines which ranks second. Price is up next and pairs this result with a high seven RAS. Brown begins the lower seven size group along with a low six RAS. Allgeier’s size pairs with his RAS that is also in the low sevens. Davis-Price is tied in size score along with his high six RAS. Zamir White has the third ranked RAS in the high nines, and the final player in this size group is Hall who has the top ranked RAS at the position.
Four players are in the above six size group, starting with Smith who pairs this result with a mid-six RAS. Conner’s mid six size score pairs with a low seven RAS. After a drop off we have Harris who has a low six size score and a slightly better RAS in the low sevens. Pacheco follows closely in size with a strong RAS in the upper eights.
Eight players land in the five size score range. Knight heads this group along with his high five RAS. Pierce follows and sports a stronger RAS in the low sevens and Ford follows with similar results. Brooks’ size pairs with a RAS just below six, and Chandler pairs his result with a slightly better RAS in the low six range. Strong Jr. starts the lower five size scores, along with his fifth ranked RAS. Ebner pairs his result with a much lower RAS in the upper fours, and Corbin finalizes this size group along with his low five RAS.
12 players have a size score below five, highlighting the game getting more athletic over the years, with size being the sacrifice overall. We can see them clearly in this visual layering all the qualifying players RAS and size scores to wrap up:
Here we see a wide variety of results on the graph, highlighting different flavors at the position for teams to choose from. Some intruiging names with a good blend of size and athleticism are Rachaad White, Zamir White, Hall, Ingram, Price and Allgeier. Players with above the mean size and athleticism include Strong Jr., Pacheco, Conner, Harris, Pierce, and Ford.
Through Steelers lenses, Robinson Jr. stands out with the ideal size they look for, and while we have numbers for nearly every player that received combine invites, it would have been nice to get a full workout from Haskins and how he would have stacked up in the results given his top ranked size score and Pittsburgh’s obvious interest.
What are your thoughts on the data? Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts in the comments!
