Today I wanted to visualize some great data from Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Scores (RAS) for quarterbacks (QB). 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):
Quite a short list, with only five of the 14 combine participants at the position qualifying for a RAS, compared to eight qualifiers with a RAS above seven in my 2023 QB RAS article.
Topping this year’s list is Michael Penix Jr. of Washington (9.74 RAS), one of Pittsburgh’s reported few pre-draft visitors at quarterback. He has elite speed and explosion, okay size, but no agility testing. Great 33 5/8” arms and 10 1/2” hands, too.
BYU’s Kedon Slovis (9.31 RAS) has elite speed, with good size and explosion, but no agility testing. 31 1/8” arms and 9 7/8” hands.
One player has a RAS in the eights, Michael Pratt of Tulane (8.27 RAS). He has great explosion, good agility, okay size, but no speed testing. 30 3/4” arms and 9 1/4” hands.
After a giant drop off, we see the final two qualifiers in the three tier. First is South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler (3.99 RAS). He has okay speed, explosion, and agility, but very poor size. 31” arms and 9 7/8” hands.
The lowest QB RAS is Sam Hartman of Notre Dame, at 3.77. He has good agility, okay speed, but poor size and explosion. 31 3/8” arms and 9 3/4” hands.
Pittsburgh has obviously seen a massive overall at QB for the 2024 season, and can’t wait to see if they select the position in this year’s draft.
