FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. Relative athletic scores: The Patriots’ 2022 draft class spoke volumes about how Bill Belichick & Co. view the team’s deficiencies — specifically with a focus on speed in a game that continues to be played more in space.
Director of player personnel Matt Groh also pointed out how the Patriots have always placed a high value on toughness.
Whether the Patriots identified the right players to inject those traits into their roster will be determined in time, but how they came to the conclusion that guard Cole Strange (first round, 29th), receiver Tyquan Thornton (second round, 50th), and cornerback Marcus Jones (third round, 85th) were ideal targets was notable.
In short, the Patriots’ Class of ’22 — criticized in some circles because of the perception the team reached on players — might turn out to be the litmus test for how much stock teams should place in analytics and testing numbers when valuing players.
Relative athletic score, which grades a player’s measurements on a 0-to-10 scale compared to their peer group, is becoming more mainstream in football reporting, and the picks of Strange and Thornton provide a springboard to highlight them.
Strange, in particular, is off the charts.
Cole Strange was drafted with pick 29 of round 1 in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 9.95 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 7 out of 1298 OG from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/RRKLKRSIJK #RAS #Patriots pic.twitter.com/FxExB6k1sR
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 29, 2022
When his measurements and testing numbers are compared to others at guard since 1987, he ranks seventh out of 1,298 prospects.
“He’s almost 6-[foot]-5, 300 pounds and runs sub-5 seconds in the 40 [-yard dash]. Benched 225 [pounds] 31 times. There’s not a lot of humans out there that are doing that,” Groh said Friday night.
Meanwhile, Thornton’s 4.28 time in the 40-yard dash is the fourth fastest by a receiver at the NFL…
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