Rams general manager Les Snead does not care about combine testing scores like the 40-yard dash, but does that mean that his roster is relatively unathletic? According to “relative athletic scores”, that is exactly what the L.A. Rams are entering 2025: For the second year in a row, the Rams had the worst total RAS score among all 32 teams.
The Rams had the second-fewest players with a high RAS and the third-most with a low RAS. But this does not mean that L.A.’s players are un-athletic actually. Far from it.
The problem here is not the Rams being un-athletic compared to other NFL teams. The problem with Relative Athletic Scores is where creator Kent Lee Platte (at MathBomb on twitter) gets his numbers from to calculate a player’s athleticism:
He is using the scores that Snead does not care about. He’s not using the metrics that Snead and his Rams front office do care about, like GPS speed scores from college game film and even more importantly, the Senior Bowl.
Isn’t game speed more important than a 40-yard dash in perfect conditions for a sprint?
RAS calculates a (made-up) score with data points like 40-time, height, weight, broad jump, and the other 5 or 6 combine tests that get famously brought up time and again. But who gets to decide what a fair calculation is for athleticism? Obviously the creator of the formula. Nobody else. Even the NFL’s own “athleticism score” is consistently proven wrong when players with bad scores end up being among the best athletes in the draft and in the pros.
This is probably also why the Rams have had so many good draft picks lately.
Puka Nacua’s RAS is 5.33, while Cooper Kupp’s is 5.54, both being mediocre and underwhelming scores for wide receivers. But both of those players have elite athleticism on the field for the jobs that they are asked to do. They were never intended to be Henry Ruggs or Tyreek Hill. That’s a different type of receiver and for that role L.A. drafted Tutu Atwell.
Kyren Williams has an RAS score of 1.75, which is as bad as it gets, but then later that number was bumped to a still-meh 5.69. He has also rushed for over 1,200 yards and 13 touchdowns per season since 2023.
A.J. Jackson had an RAS score of 3.25 and went undrafted. He has since become L.A.’s starting left tackle.
So if anything, Snead and the Rams have only done more to prove that the combine is a waste of money, time, and energy…for a lot of teams. It may work for others, but L.A. has been one of the most consistently dominant NFL teams since heading into the direction of ignoring 40 times for GPS times.
They aren’t alone, as the Bills ranked 26th, the Ravens ranked 27th, and the Lions ranked 21st in total RAS scores, all of them Super Bowl contenders with rosters that look pretty athletic on Sundays.
Conversely, the “most athletic” team is the Colts — and all that got them was a quarterback who doesn’t start and taps out.
Yes, the Eagles are second, but then the Browns are third, the Bears are fourth, and the Jets are fifth.
So do the Rams have an athletic team? Of course. The problem isn’t with the grades, it’s with the tests.
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