Data shows Broncos draft philosophy places emphasis on athleticism

The Denver Broncos aren’t picking tonight, but when they finally do get on the clock we should certainly pay attention to one thing about a potential draft pick: athleticism. This is an area where both George Paton, and John Elway before him, emphasized in each of the previous four drafts.

While Elway less so, Payton has been a very strong drafter of elite athletes regardless of draft position. As you can see from this tweet from Kent Lee Platte below, Denver loves to take players with elite athleticism.

The most interesting thing from this list is how the low RAS scored players are also players who didn’t really work out or haven’t yet worked out for Denver. Being in the red is not good in terms of success rate. However, just because a player scores in the yellow range doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t work out. Dre’Mont Jones, Dalton Risner, and Jerry Jeudy were all outside of the unicorn green zone and have had pretty good careers so far.

Also, being in that green zone doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have a great career either. Although, it does seem to give a player a better chance of breaking out in the NFL. Just look at mid round picks like Pat Surtain, Quinn Meinerz, Baron Browning, and Caden Sterns. All three were incredibly high RAS who are looking like legit NFL starters early in their respective careers.

RAS is just something we should certainly keep an eye on when the Broncos make their draft selections this week. It’s not ironclad, but it can provide some optimism on those Day 3 picks.