The Detroit Lions had quite the busy 2024 NFL Draft, as not only did they add six new players to their roster, but general manager Brad Holmes made a total of four trades, with all of them seeing the team move up
The Lions took cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw, offensive tackle Giovanni Manu, safety/running back Sione Vaki, defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo and guard Christian Mahogany. Four of those six players were traded up for, including Arnold, Manu, Vaki and Wingo.
With the 2024 NFL Draft in the books, we thought we’d take a look at how athletic each of these players are. To do that, we refer to Relative Athletic Score (RAS), which is compiled by Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb on X), who is also a Lions fan.
What is RAS? Here’s more on it from Platte:
For the past half decade, I have been working to provide a metric that can easily and intuitively gauge a player’s athletic abilities relative to the position they play and provide tools to contrast and compare based on known measurables. There’s still a long way to go, but this site is my first attempt at providing a public view of what data I have gathered and quantified so far.
Now, a look at the RAS for each of the Lions’ six draft picks. The highest-possible score is a 10.
How athletic is Lions’ draft class?
CB Terrion Arnold, Alabama: 9.27
Terrion Arnold was drafted with pick 24 of round 1 in the 2024 draft class. He scored a 9.27 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 182 out of 2472 CB from 1987 to 2024. https://t.co/UoSOk8vf8a pic.twitter.com/K1L0SWEMb2
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 26, 2024
CB Ennis Rakestraw, Missouri: 6.17
Ennis Rakestraw Jr. was drafted in round 2 pick 61 in the 2024 draft class. He scored a 6.17 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 948 out of 2472 CB from 1987 to 2024. https://t.co/OxvPHvCyjj pic.twitter.com/8gNa8nS3hz
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 27, 2024
OT Giovanni Manu, British Columbia: 8.83
Giovanni Manu was drafted in round 4 pick 126 in the 2024 draft class. He scored a 8.83 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 162 out of 1377 OT from 1987 to 2024. https://t.co/R4RHIHa98w pic.twitter.com/nKzneO4zYo
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 27, 2024
RB/S Sione Vaki, Utah: 7.93
Sione Vaki was drafted in round 4 pick 132 in the 2024 draft class. He scored a 7.93 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 394 out of 1903 RB from 1987 to 2024. https://t.co/OdlG7ytO46 pic.twitter.com/4wLw4nNKtv
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 27, 2024
DL Mekhi Wingo, LSU: 8.78
Mekhi Wingo was drafted in round 6 pick 189 in the 2024 draft class. He scored a 8.78 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 221 out of 1808 DT from 1987 to 2024. https://t.co/o6SIyPrSh8 pic.twitter.com/nqZWxEukBK
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 27, 2024
G Christian Mahogany, Boston College: 9.63
Christian Mahogany was drafted in round 6 pick 210 in the 2024 draft class. He scored a 9.63 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 60 out of 1583 OG from 1987 to 2024. https://t.co/mPYuykzBOA pic.twitter.com/ASkFUEumze
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 27, 2024
