Today I wanted to visualize some great data from Kent Lee Platt’s Relative Athletic Scores (RAS) for the interior defensive line (IDL). Here is a link to Platt’s 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, 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 for a RAS (NOTE: Positions are grouped from the scouting combine results tracker compiled by Dave Bryan and Alex Kozora):
Six players have a RAS above nine, compared to five in my 2023 IDL RAS article. First on the 2024 list is Ruke Orhorhoro of Clemson (9.91 RAS). He has elite speed and explosion, great agility, and good size. Nice 34” arms. 9 3/8” hands.
Florida State’s Braden Fiske (9.89 RAS) has elite speed and explosion, okay size, but didn’t qualify in agility (4.37 shuttle, no three cone). Short 31” arms. 9 3/8” hands.
Michael Hall Jr. of Ohio State (9.56 RAS) has elite speed, great explosion, okay size, but no agility testing. 33 1/2” arms and 10” hands.
Byron Murphy II of Texas (9.2 RAS) has elite speed, with great explosion and agility, but poor size. 32 3/8” arms and 10 1/4” hands.
Baylor’s Gabe Hall (9.19 RAS) has elite explosion, great speed, with good size and agility. Great 34 1/2” arms. 9 1/2” hands.
Logan Lee of Iowa (9.15 RAS) has elite agility, great explosion, good speed, and okay size. 32 1/4” arms and 10 1/4” hands.
Six players land in the eight RAS tier. Michigan’s Kris Jenkins (8.94 RAS) has elite speed, great explosion, okay size, but didn’t qualify in agility (4.78 shuttle, no three-cone). Great 34” arms. 9 3/8” hands.
Mississippi State’s Jaden Crumedy (8.81 RAS) has great speed, with good size and explosion, but didn’t qualify in agility (4.66 shuttle, no three-cone). 33” arms, 9 1/2” hands.
Mekhi Wingo of LSU (8.73 RAS) has elite speed and agility, great explosion, but very poor size. 32” arms and 9 1/4” hands.
Oregon’s Brandon Dorlus (8.58 RAS) has elite speed, great explosion, okay agility, but poor size. 33 1/4” arms and 9 3/8” hands.
Maason Smith of LSU (8.38 RAS) has great size, with good speed, explosion, and agility. Excellent 35” arms. Smaller 8 1/2” hands.
Fellow Tiger Jordan Jefferson (8.07 RAS) has good size and explosion, okay speed, but no agility testing. 33 1/8” arms and 9 7/8” hands.
Then, two IDL in the sevens. Duke’s Dewayne Carter (7.9 RAS) has great speed and explosion, okay size, but poor agility. 33” arms and 10 1/4” hands.
Leonard Taylor III of Miami (7.25 RAS) has good size, speed, and explosion, with okay agility. 33 7/8” arms and 9” hands.
Also, two players in the six tier. Clemson’s Tyler Davis (6.93 RAS) has great speed, good explosion, okay size, but poor agility. Short 31 3/8” arms. 9 1/4” hands.
Fabien Lovett Sr. of Florida State (6.87 RAS) has great size, good speed, okay agility, but poor explosion. A whopping 35 1/2” arms, with 10 3/8” hands.
Then, four players with a five-plus RAS. Auburn’s Marcus Harris (5.84 RAS) has good speed, with okay explosion and agility, but poor size. 32” arms and 9 5/8” hands.
Justin Eboigbe of Alabama (5.68 RAS) has good size, okay speed, but didn’t qualify in explosion (28” vertical, no broad), and no agility testing. 33 3/8” arms and 9 3/4” hands.
North Carolina’s Myles Murphy (5.3 RAS) has great size, okay explosion, but poor speed and didn’t qualify in agility (4.81 shuttle, no three-cone).
Zion Logue of Georgia (5.01 RAS) has elite size, good explosion, okay speed, but poor agility. 33 1/2” arms and 10” hands.
Two players in the fours. Keith Randolph Jr. of Illinois (4.7 RAS) has good size, with okay speed and explosion, but poor agility. 32 3/4” arms and 9 7/8” hands.
T’Vondre Sweat of Texas (4.18 RAS) has elite size (366 pounds), but poor speed, very poor explosion, and no agility testing. 33 1/4” arms and 10 1/8” hands.
Then, a drop off to the final two IDL. McKinnley Jackson of Texas A&M (2.99 RAS) has good size (326 pounds), but poor speed, explosion, and agility. 33 7/8” arms and 10” hands.
The final player lands much lower, Auburn’s Justin Rogers, with a 1.11 RAS. He has good size (330 pounds), but very poor speed, explosion, and agility. 33” arms and 10 1/8” hands.
It’s no surprise that the “big boys” that tend to plug the A gap land lowest in the RAS results, playing a differently valuable role than the more athletic prospects. Pittsburgh would be wise to address the depth at IDL with one of the latter, likely narrowing in on a few names that also have the length they have leaned towards in their draft history.
For those that like the numbers, it’s unfortunate a few players didn’t test fully, and it will be interesting to monitor the pro days and continue to see how the men stack up in the coming weeks when Platt updates the site with the unofficial numbers.
What are your thoughts on the data? Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts in the comments!
