Packers connection with Relative Athletic Scores and the NFL Scouting Combine

Van-Ness-RAS

The 2024 NFL Scouting Combine begins on February 26th, so it’s time to once again familiarize ourselves with Relative Athletic Scores and their significance for the Green Bay Packers as part of the pre-draft process.

Relative Athletic Score, or RAS, was created by Kent Lee Platte as a way to compare players based on their athletic testing numbers from either the Combine or their Pro Days.

If two receivers are different heights and different weights, with one running a faster 40-yard dash time but the other performing better in the vertical jump and 3-cone drills–who is the better overall athlete?

That’s where RAS comes in. The RAS formula takes all of the height, weight, and athletic testing measurements and converts it into a digestible and comparable figure that falls somewhere on the RAS scale, which ranges from 0 to 10.

On this scale, five is considered average, while scoring eight or higher registers as elite and within the top 20 percentile of the position group. In short, the higher the RAS, the better the athlete.

The RAS scale factors in historical results as well and is not only based on the current year’s draft class. It’s also position-specific, so even though a receiver and a center will test quite differently, both could post an RAS of 9.0 because it’s relative to their specific position groups.

To learn more about RAS and how it works, click here.

When it comes to the Packers under GM Brian Gutekunst, there has been a strong correlation between draft prospects with elite RAS scores and who Green Bay ends up selecting in the draft.

Since 2018, when Gutekunst took over, he has made 61 draft picks with 54 of them registering on the RAS scale. Of those 54 picks, 40 have had a RAS of at least 8.0, including 25 scoring above 9.0.

Just 10 Gutekunst selections have scored below 7.0, with only two of them – Amari Rodgers and Jayden Reed – being top 100 selections. The other eight were Day 3 picks.

Below you can find the individual results for each of the 54 draft picks that registered a RAS score.

Quarterback

Sean Clifford: 9.04

Jordan Love: 8.43

Running back

AJ Dillon: 9.15

Dexter Williams: 8.13

Lew Nichols III: 7.83

Kylin Hill: 7.28

Wide Receiver

Christian Watson: 9.96

Equanimeous St. Brown: 9.85

Marquez Valdes-Scantling: 9.26

Dontayvion Wicks: 9.17

Grant DuBose: 8.79

J’Mon Moore: 8.43

Jayden Reed: 6.74

Samori Toure: 6.14

Amari Rodgers: 5.35

Offensive Line

Zach Tom: 9.59

Elgton Jenkins: 9.33

Royce Newman: 8.72

Cole Van Lanen: 8.46

Jon Runyan: 8.47

Sean Rhyan: 8.16

Cole Madison: 4.57

Jake Hanson: 3.72

Tight End

Luke Musgrave: 9.78

Tucker Kraft: 9.68

Josiah Deguara: 8.49

Jace Sternberger: 5.17

Interior Defensive Line

James Looney: 9.75

Devonte Wyatt: 9.59

Colby Wooden: 9.24

Kingsley Keke: 7.98

TJ Slaton: 7.96

Karl Brooks: 5.87

Jonathan Ford: 3.54

Edge Rusher

Rashan Gary: 9.95

Kendell Donnerson: 9.89

Lukas Van Ness: 9.39

Jonathan Garvin: 8.97

JJ Enagbare: 6.25

Linebacker

Oren Burks: 9.72

Ty Summers: 9.71

Quay Walker: 9.63

Isaiah McDuffie: 7.32

Cornerback

Jaire Alexander: 9.53

Eric Stokes: 9.37

Carrington Valentine: 9.30

Josh Jackson: 9.26

Ka’Dar Hollman: 9.22

Shemar Jean-Charles: 4.24

Safety

Tariq Carpenter: 8.93

Darnell Savage: 8.37

Anthony Johnson Jr.: 8.13

Special Teams

Hunter Bradley: 9.03

JK Scott: 8.37

Looking at some of the Packers’ biggest positional needs that they will likely address at some point in the draft, 5-of-6 cornerback selections scored a RAS of 9.0 or higher, along with all three safeties registering above 8.0.

Linebacker has all four picks with a RAS above 7.0, including three selections above the 9.0 mark, while six of  Gutekunst’s eight offensive line picks have scored at least 8.0.

Running back has just two of the four picks scoring an elite RAS, but all are above 7.0, and it’s worth noting that AJ Dillon was the only premium pick spent on the position, and he registered a score of 9.15.

With all of that said, it’s time for some disclaimers. Do I believe that Gutekunst and Co. are pouring over RAS cards following the combine? Not at all. But for us on the outside looking in trying to get any sort of insight into who the Packers might be interested in, it’s clear that they want to draft elite athletes, and the RAS scale helps us determine who those players are.

It’s also important to note that a prospect’s RAS is not indicative of future NFL success. Just last year, Jayden Reed and Karl Brooks both scored below 7.0 but were excellent selections by the Packers. Again, RAS is a tool and one piece of a giant puzzle when it comes to deciphering who the Packers might be interested in.

So, as the NFL Combine unfolds next week and Kent computes hundreds of RAS scores, be mindful of where each player falls on that scale. It’s, of course, not the be-all-end-all by any means, but 74 percent of Gutekunst’s picks have scored 8.0 or higher, including nearly 50 percent of all selections being above 9.0, while just 18 percent scored below 7.0.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers connection with Relative Athletic Scores and the NFL Scouting Combine