{"id":884764,"date":"2026-05-07T10:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/884764\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T10:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T10:00:22","slug":"patriots-draft-class-ranked-just-22nd-in-average-athleticism-it-doesnt-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/884764\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots draft class ranked just 22nd in average athleticism. It doesn\u2019t matter."},"content":{"rendered":"

When the dust had settled on the New England Patriots<\/a>\u2019 2026 NFL Draft, they had brought in nine new players \u2014 from first-round offensive tackle Caleb Lomu to seventh-round edge Quintayvious Hutchins. In between, they filled some needs and bolstered the overall depth across their roster.<\/p>\n

They also added some high-end athleticism, even though that was unsurprisingly primarily concentrated within their first three selections. Overall, using Relative Athletic Score, which operates on a 0-to-10 scale, we can see the Patriots\u2019 draft haul breaks down as follows:<\/p>\n

Adding these scores up and dividing them by nine to get an average, we can see that New England<\/a>\u2019s draft class posted an average RAS of 8.01. That is a good number \u2014 it would be shaded green in the graphic above \u2014 but nonetheless lacking in comparison to other teams around the league.<\/p>\n

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Where does the Patriots draft class rank in average athleticism?<\/p>\n

New England Patriots (8.01)<\/p>\n

As can be seen, the Patriots\u2019 2026 draft class is ranked 22nd overall in average athleticism. It\u2019s 8.01 score also is slightly below the league average of 8.29.<\/p>\n

Five of New England\u2019s picks \u2014 OT Caleb Lomu, ED Gabe Jacas<\/a>, TE Eli Raridon, CB Karon Prunty, LB Namdi Obiazor \u2014 check in higher than that average, with the rest of the group failing to reach that level. Is that a problem, though? In theory it might be, given that being faster, bigger and stronger usually gives players an advantage in the NFL.<\/p>\n

However, our argument is that it is not a big deal when all is said and done.<\/p>\n

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Why the Patriots\u2019 ranking doesn\u2019t matter<\/p>\n

Relative Athletic Score is a useful tool to compare players\u2019 pre-draft testing within their position groups and relative to four decades worth of historical data. However, as with all things draft or player evaluation, it is merely one piece of the puzzle \u2014 one easy-to-digest metric (built out of other easy-to-digest metrics) to give a quick overview.<\/p>\n

It certainly has its merits, but it also is just one way of measuring a players\u2019 athleticism. Generally speaking, after all, in-game athleticism and testing athleticism are two different things. It\u2019s great if a linebacker runs a 4.5-second 40-yard dash, but that speed is not properly put to use if the player\u2019s processing speed, burst or quickness do not also look the part.<\/p>\n

And that is a key point in the NFL: success or failure are not determined by testing in a vacuum. This is precisely why a player such as Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane<\/a> has built a solid multi-year career for himself despite registering an underwhelming Relative Athletic Score of 1.97 back in 2018 (and in part due to his measurements going undrafted).<\/p>\n

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In addition, the makeup of the Patriots\u2019 average score in 2026 also needs to be looked at. They made three picks on the first two days of the draft, with those averaging 9.65 points. Following a series of trades to move up for Lomu and Jacas in Rounds 1 and 2, they were left without a selection until late in Round 5 \u2014 aka. outside the typical \u201croster lock\u201d range for draft pick.<\/p>\n

In that sense, the majority of the Patriots\u2019 draft class are more lottery tickets than anything else. While baseline athleticism is still a plus, drafting at that point becomes very much based on traits; those do not necessarily have to be tied to a high RAS.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the success of New England\u2019s nine-player class will not be determined strictly by its testing athleticism. There are other factors both individually and organizationally at play that also have a significant impact on development, which is why the 22nd team \u2014 or any team, for that matter \u2014 has a chance to outperform its ranking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the dust had settled on the New England Patriots\u2019 2026 NFL Draft, they had brought in nine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[390,744,254,117,53,7724,260,391,256,54,257,258,113,3990,7,23926,345,253,392,125,110,393,262,58,1360,251,259,1167,249,55,56,255,2326,2094,6,208,109,57,9591,252,261,250,394,111],"class_list":["post-884764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-athleticism","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-caleb-lomu","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-denver-broncos","tag-detroit-lions","tag-draft-class","tag-football","tag-gabe-jacas","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-houston-texans","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-lucas-oil-stadium","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-new-york-giants","tag-new-york-jets","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-patriots","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-robert-spillane","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-washington-commanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}