Today I wanted to visualize some great data from Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Scores (RAS) for linebackers (LB). Here is a link to Platte’s website in case you haven’t seen his work.
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 Platte, 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).
Five players have a RAS above nine, compared to five in my 2023 LB RAS article. Atop the 2024 list in NC State’s Payton Wilson (9.81 RAS). He has elite speed, with good size and explosion, but no agility testing. 30 1/2” arms and 9” hands.
Edefuan Ulofoshio of Washington (9.67 RAS) has elite speed and explosion, with okay size, but no agility testing. Good 32 3/8” arms. 9 1/4” hands.
Kentucky’s Trevin Wallace (9.31 RAS) has elite explosion, great speed, okay size, but no agility testing. Nice 32 5/8” arms. 9 1/8” hands.
Jordan Magee of Temple (9.31 RAS) has elite speed, great explosion, but poor size and no agility testing. 32” arms and 8 3/4” hands.
Edgerrin Cooper of Texas A&M (9.1 RAS) has elite speed, with good explosion and agility, and okay size. Great 34” arms. 9 3/4” hands.
Three players have an eight-plus RAS. Penn State’s Curtis Jacobs (8.42 RAS) has elite speed, great explosion, good size, and okay agility. 31 1/2” arms and 10 1/4” hands.
Jaylan Ford of Texas (8.21 RAS) has good size, speed, explosion, and agility. 31 3/4” arms and 9 1/2” hands.
North Carolina’s Cedric Gray (8.19 RAS) has great speed, good explosion, okay size, but no agility testing. 32 1/2” arms and 9” hands.
Also, three LBs in the seven range. Tommy Eichenberg of Ohio State (7.81 RAS) has great agility, good size, okay explosion, but no speed testing. 31 5/8” arms and 9 1/4” hands.
Missouri’s Ty’Ron Hopper (7.36 RAS) has great explosion, good speed, okay size, but poor agility. 31 3/8” arms and 8 7/8” hands.
Tyrice Knight of UTEP (7.34 RAS) has great speed, good explosion, okay agility, but poor size. Good 32 1/2” arms. 9 1/4” hands.
Two players in the six-RAS tier. Mississippi State’s Nathaniel Watson (6.52 RAS) has good size and speed, but poor explosion and no agility testing. Good 32 3/8” arms, and 9 7/8” hands.
Kalen DeLoach of Florida State (6.47 RAS) has elite speed, okay explosion, but very poor size and no agility testing.
Three players land in the five range. Darius Muasau of UCLA (5.64 RAS) has good speed and explosion, okay agility, but very poor size. 31 1/2” arms and 9 1/2” hands.
Notre Dame’s Marist Liufau (5.57 RAS) has good size, speed, and agility, but very poor explosion. Great 34 1/4” arms. 9 7/8” hands.
Easton Gibbs of Wyoming (5.17 RAS) has good speed and agility, but poor size and explosion. 32 1/2” arms and 9 1/4” hands.
Two players with a four-plus RAS. Ohio State’s Steele Chambers (4.57 RAS) has good agility, okay speed and explosion, but poor size. 30 1/2” arms and 9 1/4” hands.
Aaron Casey of Indiana (4.26 RAS) has good agility, okay speed, but poor size and explosion. 32 3/4” arms and 9 3/8” hands.
Two more LBs land in the threes. Florida State’s Tatum Bethune (3.94 RAS) has good agility, okay speed, but poor explosion and very poor size. 32 3/8” arms and 10” hands.
Michael Barrett of Michigan (3.64 RAS) has good speed, but poor size, and didn’t qualify in explosion (31” vertical, no broad jump) or agility (less than ideal 4.55 shuttle, no three cone). 32 1/8” arms. 8 1/2” hands are less than what Pittsburgh typically drafts.
After a substantial drop off, the lowest LB RAS of 1.1 is Wisconsin’s Maema Njongmeta. He has good explosion, but poor size, and very poor speed and agility. 32 1/8” arms and 9 3/8” hands.
There are more prominent needs for Pittsburgh, but adding to the room would be fantastic if the Steelers can make it happen. It will be interesting to see if they select at the position in the 2024 draft.
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 Platte updates the site with the unofficial numbers.
