It's the time of year for NFL franchises to enter the combine and draft to evaluate and add talent.
With many different styles, positions, and strengths for NFL teams to address for each college prospect, any metric or measurement to numerically display athleticism helps speed up the process.
Enter the RAS.
Created by Kent Lee Platte, the Relative Athletic Score "is a metric that takes all of a player's NFL Combine measurables — height, weight, wingspan, hand size, athletics and drill results — and boils them down into one number, on a scale of 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest)."
This definition comes from a March 5th, 2023 piece of The Sporting News' Joe Rivera covering the NFL Combine.
When factoring in the Indianapolis Colts, creator Platte had an interesting post on X evaluating the team from the Circle City.
Platte posted on X: "The #Colts are one of the most #RAS heavy teams of the last decade, with their last player below 8.00 being in 2021 and 2 of their lowest 3 scoring players in the last four drafts being quarterbacks.
"They're almost comical about how hard they go after the top flight athletes."
It's clear what kind of players the Colts like to look into and select in the NFL Draft. Dating back to the Ryan Grigson era as Colts General Manager, Indy has been a team to take athleticism over everything else for prospects. However, current Indy General Manager Chris Ballard has taken it to a new level, loving athletes on the roster.
Since 2020, 21 out of 36 possible players Indy has drafted have a RAS of 9.00 or higher. This equates to 58.33% of the selections. Last year, the Colts had nine out of 12 total draft picks test at 9.00 or higher for an overall score.
Below are the rankings from the 2023 NFL Draft:
- QB Anthony Richardson (10)
- CB JuJu Brents (9.99)
- FS Daniel Scott (9.94)
- OT Blake Freeland (9.83)
- OT Jake Witt (9.8)
- CB Darius Rush (9.8)
- DT Adetomiwa Adebawore (9.72)
- RB Evan Hull (9.32)
- TE Will Mallory (9.05)
- WR Josh Downs (8.99)
- CB Jaylon Jones (8.79)
- DE Titus Leo (8.48)
The last four years show how Ballard approaches the NFL Draft, and it's likely Indy will go this route again in 2024. While some of the high-level athletes have been great, others haven't.
Names like Richardson, running back Jonathan Taylor, wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., offensive tackle Bernhard Raimann, and defensive end Kwity Paye have played like legitimate stars or starters. Others, like Rush and wide receiver Michael Strachan, didn't show out despite the athletic metrics they laid down.
Ballard values the traits and trusts them when approaching the NFL Combine. Whether cornerback, edge rusher, wide receiver, or other positions are selected, look for more prospects with a high RAS to don a Colts jersey.
Will the athletes that Ballard leans toward pan out for the 2024 season? It will be interesting to wait and see if they can in Year 2 of Shane Steichen.
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