{"id":1099,"date":"2015-05-11T12:32:05","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T17:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tfootballstg.wpengine.com\/?p=1099"},"modified":"2016-10-28T14:23:36","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T19:23:36","slug":"game-film-not-necessary-to-see-how-jaguars-and-falcons-picks-topped-the-2015-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandbutter.io\/beta\/trackingfootball.com\/blog\/game-film-not-necessary-to-see-how-jaguars-and-falcons-picks-topped-the-2015-nfl-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Game film not necessary to see how Jaguars\u2019 and Falcons\u2019 picks topped the 2015 NFL draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that the NFL draft dust has settled, \u201cdraft grades\u201d have come out from a variety of outlets.\u00a0 NFL analysts Chris Burke & Doug Farrar<\/a>, as well as Bucky Brooks<\/a> have graded the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons in the \u201cA\/A-\u201d range.\u00a0 Dan Kadar went as far to say that the two teams \u201cwon the draft\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Jaguars\u2019 and Falcons\u2019 picks stood out to Tracking Football as well, but not because of what they did\u00a0on the football field.\u00a0 Jacksonville and Atlanta selected a higher percentage of players with high school track & field\u00a0backgrounds and, more importantly,\u00a0top flight track & field\u00a0performances\u00a0than any other NFL team in the 2015 draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A recent study (TrackingFootball) found that 162 of 256 (63%) <\/a>2015 NFL draft picks participated in high school\u00a0track & field.\u00a0\u00a0All of the Jaguars\u2019 and\u00a0six\u00a0out of\u00a0seven Falcons\u2019 draft picks participated in high school\u00a0track & field.\u00a0 These participation\u00a0totals rank them first\u00a0and\u00a0third respectively in comparison to the other 32 NFL teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is a list of the Jaguars\u2019 and Falcons\u2019 selections and what they did in high school:<\/p>\n

\"5_11<\/a><\/p>\n

TrackingFootball\u2019s list is not sorted by draft order but by proprietary Player Athletic Index (PAI)<\/a> scores.\u00a0 The PAI takes into account a high school football player\u2019s height, weight, position and track & field athletic data, then compares it to 15,000+ other Division I\u00a0and NFL players.\u00a0 It is a reflection of quantifiable speed and\u00a0or athletic explosiveness for football players.\u00a0 The PAI is not based on combine data or game film, but rather a player\u2019s performance in a competitive track\u00a0& field meet.\u00a0 Track meets are a rare environment where football players can challenge other opponents, but the end results remain solely dependent on the individual athlete.\u00a0\u00a0Track results are objective and standardized\u00a0data points which can be compared to current or former players at the same position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

PAI scores range from 0.0 to 5.0.\u00a0 Anything over 3.0 is considered \u201cabove average\u201d.\u00a0 Only\u00a0six draftees received a 5.0 score (the Jaguars selected one, Ben Koyak, in the 7th<\/sup> round).\u00a0 The average PAI score for 2015 NFL draft picks was 3.4 out of 5.0.\u00a0 The Jaguars\u2019 picks averaged a 3.7 PAI, while Falcons\u2019 picks averaged an even better 3.9 PAI.<\/p>\n

It is not clear if the Jaguars and Falcons purposefully drafted players with\u00a0high school\u00a0track & field backgrounds, but we do know that both use analytics in their draft decisions.\u00a0 In February of 2015 Kevin Seifert, of ESPN Magazine, wrote a feature story titled \u201cAcross sports, NFL teams are most reluctant to take advantage of analytics<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 In this story Seifert identified\u00a0nine teams he labeled \u201cbelievers\u201d of analytics in the NFL.\u00a0 Two of those teams were the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Atlanta Falcons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seifert credits Tony Khan,\u00a0Senior\u00a0VP of Football Technology, for the analytics push in Jacksonville.\u00a0 He cites an article titled \u201cThe geeks shall inherit the turf\u201d<\/a> by David Fleming, which\u00a0describes how \u201cKhan turned to Speed Score<\/a>\u201d in Jacksonville\u2019s decision to draft Denard Robinson in the fifth round.\u00a0 Seifert also notes that Falcons\u00a0GM, Thomas Dimitroff, is \u201ca strong proponent of analytics in every form\u201d and notes \u201cDimitroff employs analytics for draft evaluation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Does simple participation in multiple sports during high school <\/a>give a football player a better chance of being drafted in the NFL?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Exceptional football players become NFL players.\u00a0 Yet, it seems that NFL and Division I\u00a0college football teams are interested in measuring and acquiring elite athletes.\u00a0 Using track & field data in combination with height, weight, and position seems a viable and valuable means of analyzing these raw athletic abilities and how they translate to football.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Jaguars and Falcons are on to something? Time will tell.<\/p>\n

-Brian Spilbeler<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that the NFL draft dust has settled, \u201cdraft grades\u201d have come out from a variety of outlets.\u00a0 NFL analysts Chris Burke & Doug Farrar, as well as Bucky Brooks have graded the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons in the \u201cA\/A-\u201d range.\u00a0 Dan Kadar went as far to say that the two teams \u201cwon the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40,8,34],"tags":[168,10,169,140,165,222,12,170,48,6],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGame film not necessary to see how Jaguars\u2019 and Falcons\u2019 picks topped the 2015 NFL draft -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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