As we gear up for draft day and College Football Playoff lets take a look at an important metric for linemen. We know the 40 yard dash and 100 meters is something we associate with skill positions. What about the men in the trenches? Tracking Football has looked at years of data and what we see is how important shot put and discus is for linemen. See last years blog on top linemen in college “Top Linemen 2017 draft prep”.
Using various media outlets we chose the 10 most frequent names from top linemen expected to go in the draft. Whether it is Alabama football, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Clemson we see similar attributes.
1. 100% were multi-sport athletes in high school
2. 70% had very impressive shot put/discus data and PAI scores.
3. 2.0 PAI to 2.9 PAI is the average athleticism in FBS.
This list is a consensus for high draft grades. The PAI or Player Athletic Index scores are what Tracking Football applied to these players some as early as sophomore year in high school. Since the PAI score is based in historical numbers of past and present linemen it is a non-bias and verified way to measure athleticism. For example when we look at future hall of famer Joe Thomas his height, weight, and shot put of 62’01” can be compared to Jonah William’s height, weight, and shot put which was 61’05”. Tracking Football allows its clients to have this data and compare it side by side. Greg Robinson can be pulled from his Auburn and high school data. Greg’s shot put was 59′ 11″ and his high school PAI score was a 5.0.
Intuitively our NFL and college users agree that large athletes that excel in a shot put ring, explosion in triple jump, speed in 60 m dash have a high probability of transferring that to on the field play.
Look for my next blog on defensive line and how their PAI scores can be an early indicator in high school similar to the offensive linemen. We will also be analyzing the most athletic teams using verified track and field info.
Other interesting blogs for draft and PAI see:
2018 Draft and Multi-sport Athletes
Using Tracking Football to find athletes similar to J.J. Watt or Myles Garrett.