Christian Watson, North Dakota State Football, NDSU, NFL Draft, Mock Draft, NY Jets, RAS, 40 Time
Christian Watson, NDSU Football, NFL Draft, New York Jets, Getty Images

Pinpointing the 2022 NFL draft prospects who fit the athletic criteria of Joe Douglas and the New York Jets

Over the past couple of days, I have spent plenty of time breaking down the drafting tendencies of New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas in terms of how much he tends to value prospects’ athletic profiles. I first broke down Douglas’ most notable trends before identifying 2022 draft prospects that might be avoided by Douglas based on those trends.

Today we’ll look at the other side of the coin. Which 2022 draft prospects should we expect Douglas to favor based on his previous drafting tendencies?

Here’s the most notable athleticism-based tendency that Douglas showcased between the 2020 and 2021 drafts: his propensity for drafting prospects with a Relative Athletic Score (RAS)* above 9.0.

Douglas selected seven players with a RAS of 9.0-plus from 2020 to 2021, tied with Denver and Washington for the most of any team over that span.

*RAS is a 0-to-10 rating that takes into account a player’s performance in various testing drills relative to their height, weight, and position.

What does it mean when a player has a RAS of 9.0? Well, a player’s RAS correlates closely with their percentile ranking among all players at their position in the history of athletic testing data, so a RAS of 9.0 means the player owns better testing numbers than about 90% of players at their position. A RAS of 9.5 places them around the 95th percentile, and so on.

The bottom line is that any player with a RAS above 9.0 is a truly incredible athlete. Joe Douglas and the New York Jets have strongly favored players with such a high level of athleticism, so any prospect who hits this benchmark is worth monitoring as a potential Jets target.

Let’s go position-by-position and identify the 2022 draft prospects who registered a RAS of 9.0 or better.

Cornerback (16 players)

Throughout this article, each prospect will be listed alongside their current overall ranking among all prospects on the consensus big board at NFL Mock Draft Database (as of April 13, 2022), which is calculated through the combination of 63 big boards from draft analysts around the internet. This gives us an approximate idea of where in the draft each prospect could realistically be targeted.

Beneath each list, I will also note if there are any highly-regarded prospects who did not qualify for a Relative Athletic Score due to their insufficient number of completed drills during the lead-up to the draft.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at all of the prospects who registered a 9.0-plus RAS. We begin with the cornerback position.

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Zyon McCollumCBSam Houston State10120
Tony AdamsCBIllinois9.75516
Tariq Castro-FieldsCBPenn State9.74139
Damarri MathisCBPittsburgh9.72160
Tariq WoolenCBUTSA9.7172
Kyler GordonCBWashington9.6940
Akayleb EvansCBMissouri9.56130
Josh ThompsonCBTexas9.55251
Dallis FlowersCBPittsburg State9.53266
Trent McDuffieCBWashington9.4921
Joshua WilliamsCBFayetteville State9.44155
Sam WebbCBMissouri Western9.41363
Jaylen WatsonCBWashington State9.2187
Darrell BakerCBGeorgia Southern9.11523
Christian HolmesCBOklahoma State9.1542
Alontae TaylorCBTennessee9.07109

Notable prospects who did not complete enough testing to qualify for RAS: Ahmad Gardner (#4), Andrew Booth (#24)

Defensive end (17 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Travon WalkerDEGeorgia9.995
Boye MafeDEMinnesota9.9233
Aidan HutchinsonDEMichigan9.881
Jeffrey GunterDECoastal Carolina9.75191
Dominique RobinsonDEMiami OH9.74131
Sam WilliamsDEMississippi9.7293
Josh PaschalDEKentucky9.799
Kayvon ThibodeauxDEOregon9.632
David OjaboDEMichigan9.432
Nik BonittoDEOklahoma9.3761
Jermaine JohnsonDEFlorida State9.2312
George KarlaftisDEPurdue9.2119
Amare BarnoDEVirginia Tech9.18172
Isaiah ThomasDEOklahoma9.15155
Arnold EbiketieDEPenn State9.1442
Scott PatchanDEColorado State9.12519
DeAngelo MaloneDEWestern Kentucky9.04128

Jet X Offseason Tool 2023 4

Defensive tackle (11 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Jordan DavisDTGeorgia1014
Thomas BookerDTStanford9.88175
Devonte WyattDTGeorgia9.5925
Curtis BrooksDTCincinnati9.52437
Travis JonesDTConnecticut9.443
Logan HallDTHouston9.3940
Ben StilleDTNebraska9.34585
Matt HenningsenDTWisconsin9.33269
Eric Johnson IIDTMissouri State9.16215
Jordan JacksonDTAir Force9.14503
Mika TafuaDTUtah9.03470

Notable prospects who did not complete enough testing to qualify for RAS: Perrion Winfrey (#50)

Fullback (3 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Garrett OwensFBDuquesne9.58Unranked
Clint RatkovicthFBNorthern Illinois9.39528
John ChenalFBWisconsin9.34Unranked

Linebacker (20 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Troy AndersenLBMontana State1076
Leo ChenalLBWisconsin9.9962
Brandon SmithLBPenn State9.9794
Damone ClarkLBLouisiana State9.87100
Chad MumaLBWyoming9.7765
Chance CampbellLBMississippi9.69270
Channing TindallLBGeorgia9.6887
Quay WalkerLBGeorgia9.6348
Darrian BeaversLBCincinnati9.6107
Devin LloydLBUtah9.5920
Devin HarperLBOklahoma State9.51422
Jake HummelLBIowa State9.47456
Micah McFaddenLBIndiana9.46250
Cameron GoodeLBCalifornia9.46343
Adam AndersonLBGeorgia9.37276
Malcolm RodriguezLBOklahoma State9.27209
Jeremiah MoonLBFlorida9.21297
Baylon SpectorLBClemson9.13333
Mike RoseLBIowa State9.07206
Christian HarrisLBAlabama9.0651

Notable prospects who did not complete enough testing to qualify for RAS: Nakobe Dean (#26)

Interior offensive line (10 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Cole StrangeOGChattanooga9.9586
Cameron JurgensOCNebraska9.94118
Blaise AndriesOGMinnesota9.81444
Zion JohnsonOGBoston College9.7428
Dawson DeatonOCTexas Tech9.7245
Luke WattenbergOCWashington9.59288
Jack SnyderOGSan Jose State9.5389
Jason PoeOGMercer9.46492
Chris PaulOGTulsa9.45170

Notable prospects who did not complete enough testing to qualify for RAS: Tyler Linderbaum (#23)

Offensive tackle (8 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Trevor PenningOTNorthern Iowa9.9618
Matt WaletzkoOTNorth Dakota9.95183
Bernhard RaimannOTCentral Michigan9.8739
Nick ZakeljOTFordham9.83234
Kellen DieschOTArizona State9.75119
Abraham LucasOTWashington State9.7384
Zach TomOTWake Forest9.59143
Ryan Van DemarkOTConnecticut9.45334
Devin CochranOTGeorgia Tech9.17281

Notable prospects who did not complete enough testing to qualify for RAS: Evan Neal (#3)

Quarterback (3 players)

Obviously, I doubt the Jets will target a quarterback in this year’s draft, but I figured this info was worth including anyway. Perhaps one of these names could generate enough interest to prompt a team into trading up for one of the Jets’ picks.

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Desmond RidderQBCincinnati9.6237
Kenny PickettQBPittsburgh9.5516
EJ Perry IVQBBrown9.43213

Notable prospects who did not complete enough testing to qualify for RAS: Malik Willis (#11), Matt Corral (#35)

Running back (9 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Breece HallRBIowa State9.9636
Rachaad WhiteRBArizona State9.88105
Master Teague IIIRBOhio State9.84319
Zander HorvathRBPurdue9.83367
Zamir WhiteRBGeorgia9.82120
Bryant KobackRBToledo9.72411
Tyler GoodsonRBIowa9.54193
Pierre Strong Jr.RBSouth Dakota State9.34142
Kenneth Walker IIIRBMichigan State9.2646

Safety (14 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Lewis CineFSGeorgia9.9234
Nick CrossFSMaryland9.87109
Scott NelsonSSWisconsin9.67504
Joey BlountFSVirginia9.62231
Isaac Taylor-StuartFSSouthern California9.61291
Tycen AndersonFSToledo9.49161
JT WoodsSSBaylor9.43165
Dane BeltonSSIowa9.42230
Kyle HamiltonFSNotre Dame9.337
Jack KoernerSSIowa9.19459
Jaquan BriskerSSPenn State9.1452
Drew HartlaubFSPenn State9.09495
Daxton HillFSMichigan9.0631
Marcelino McCrary-BallSSIndiana9.03421

Tight end (6 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Jelani WoodsTEVirginia10106
Daniel BellingerTESan Diego State9.65174
Andrew OgletreeTEYoungstown State9.35369
Charlie KolarTEIowa State9.12137
Armani RogersTEOhio9.1350
Lucas KrullTEPittsburgh9.06219

Wide receiver (11 players)

NamePosCollegeRASBig Board Rank
Christian WatsonWRNorth Dakota State9.9649
Kevin AustinWRNotre Dame9.94212
Alec PierceWRCincinnati9.8275
Brenden SchoolerWRTexas9.79501
Isaiah WestonWRNorthern Iowa9.62232
Tyshaun JamesWRCentral Connecticut State9.54414
George PickensWRGeorgia9.3754
Bo MeltonWRRutgers9.24156
Jalen VirgilWRAppalachian State9.16591
Calvin Austin IIIWRMemphis9.0874
Jaquarii RobersonWRWake Forest9.01347

Notable prospects who did not complete enough testing to qualify for RAS: Drake London (#13), Jameson Williams (#15)

Based on what we saw from Joe Douglas and the New York scouting staff over the last two years, I would expect the Jets to draft at least three or four of the players listed in this article.

Audio Version available to members only: Learn more here

Download Jet X Mobile on the App Store and Google Play.

Want More NY Jets News & Jets X-Factor Content?

Download the free Jet X Mobile App to get customizable notifications directly to your iOS (App Store) or Google/Android (Google Play) device.

Add Jets X-Factor to your Google News feed to stay up to date with the New York Jets.

Follow us on Twitter @jetsxfactor for all the latest New York Jets news, Facebook for even more, Instagram for some of the top NY Jets images, and YouTube for original Jets X-Factor videos.

Join the official Jets Discord community to connect with likeminded fans.

Michael Nania is one of the best analytical New York Jets minds in the world, combining his statistical expertise with game film to add proper context to the data. Nania scrapes every corner, ensuring you know all there is to know about everyone from the QB to the long snapper. Nania's Numbers, Nania's QB Grades, and Nania's All-22 give fans a deeper and more well-rounded dive into the Jets than anyone else can offer. Email: michael.nania[at]jetsxfactor.com - Twitter: @Michael_Nania
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
4 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
John Spuhler
John Spuhler
1 year ago

Great article. This article is exactly the reason why I joined X-Factor.

ncjetsfan
ncjetsfan
1 year ago

Thanks, Michael. This is awesome and more than a little eye-opening. There are some top prospects who either didn’t do enough testing to qualify or who aren’t listed at all. Among the players not listed who I have seen frequently mocked to the Jets or who are excellent scheme fits are: Ekwonu, Kair Elam, Myjai Sanders, Cam Thomas, Kingsley Enagbare, (Arnold Ebiketie’s numbers were surprisingly low), Phidarian Mathis, DeMarvin Leal, Dylan Parham, Kenyon Green, Charles Cross, James Cook, Jerome Ford, Dameon Pierce, Tyler Badie, (surprised that Daquan Brisker’s and Daxton Hill’s scores were so low), Jeremy Ruckert, Greg Dulcich, Isaiah Likely, Cade Otton, Garret Wilson, Chris Olave, and (surprised that Jahan Dotson’s, Skyy Moore’s, John Metechie’s and Calvin Austin’s scores were too low).