Welcome back, Buffalo Bills fans. In the next part of this RAS series, we take a look at Buffalo’s front office and their connections with their draft classes. For those that do not know RAS stands for Relative Athletic Score. It is a system put together by Kent Lee Platte. He assigns scores to each combine test and then combines them to get a 0-10 score that shows how athletic that player is relative to other players at his position.

Historical data has shown that this does effect a players potential, the more athletic a player the higher their potential to reach that elite level of play. You can find his site here: http://ras.football The Bills current GM is Brandon Beane who has been in place since May of 2017, which means the 2018-2021 drafts have been his. Now that is over with lets get to the analysis.

Quarterbacks: A Future MVP Candidate?

Beane has drafted only two quarterbacks in his time. Josh Allen in 2018 and Jake Fromm in 2020. The RAS scores from these two could not be more different. Allen scored a 9.67 and Fromm scored a 1.96. There are not many similarities between the two. Both are 220 or over, and That’s about it. This is something that seems to follow teams across the league. RAS does not seem to be all that important for most teams.

Running backs:

Since 2018 Beane and the Buffalo Bills have drafted only two running backs. Devin Singletary in 2019 and Zack Moss in 2020. The average RAS score for the two of them is 2.31. Which is interesting, because teams generally like their running backs to be at least decent athletes. Some similarities are that both are under 5’10 and both are over 200 pounds.

Both oddly have almost the same 40 times at 4.65 and 4.66. Same thing with their 10 yard splits with a 1.67 and 1.64. So it seems they do not care too much about athleticism with their running backs, although its a small sample size with only two guys.

Wide Receivers:

The Buffalo Bills have drafted five receivers since 2018. Austin Proehl and Ray-Ray McCloud in 2018, Isaiah Hodgins and Gabe Davis in 2020, and Marquez Stevenson in 2021. Looking at their average RAS score what comes out is a 5.45. None of them scored over a 7.56. Only two of them even scored a 6 or above (Davis and Hodgins).

With the Bills draft history it seems Beane prefers two different type of receivers either guys that are 5’9-5’10 like Proehl, McCloud and Stevenson or those that are 6’2+ in Davis and Hodgins. The three smaller receivers all seem to have good agility in common. 40 times range for 4.53-4.48 so they all have about average speed. Their explosion grade are average to below average. These tests are not prioritized by them.

Now when it comes to Hodgins and Davis besides both being 6’2+ they are both over 210. Both scored good in explosion and good with their 10 yard splits. Agility grades vary between the two, so that seems to be not a priority when it comes to bigger receivers for them.

Tight ends:

In his time Beane has drafted only two tight ends. Tommy Sweeney and Dawson Knox in 2019. Sweeney had a RAS score of 5.93 and Knox with a 9.25. Both are 6’4 250-255. Sweeney was pretty average across the board in testing, Knox meanwhile showed really well in explosion and speed testing, but average agility. Speed and explosion seem to be testing that they key in on.

Offensive line:

The Buffalo Bills have drafted five offensive linemen since 2018. Three guards and two tackles. Wyatt Teller in 2018, Cody Ford in 2019, and Tommy Doyle, Jack Anderson and Spencer Brown in 2021. The average RAS score for all of them is a very athletic 8.72 with only one of them scoring under an 8.

This seems to be a position that they highly value athleticism. As for the two tackles very similar athletic profiles. Both are 6’8 and 310+. They both had RAS scores of 9.9+. Both had very good bench scores for how long their arms are. They both have elite scores in explosion, speed and agility. It seems they really like tall super athletic tackles.

With the three guards all three are 6’4-6’5 and 314+. Their average RAS score is a solid 7.9. So they like their guards to have at least solid explosion numbers. All three have vertical jumps of 28.5+ with a broad jump of 8’08” at least. With their speed grades they are pretty average across the board. Their agility scores vary from average to poor. It seems the Bills do not prioritize agility testing with their guards. Arm length also varies with the shortest being 31 7/8″ and the longest being 36 3/4″

Defensive line:

Since 2018 the Buffalo Bills have only drafted two defensive linemen: Harrison Phillips (2018) and Ed Oliver (2019). Their average RAS score is a exceptional 8.99. They are 6’2-6’3. Their weights though vary with Oliver being 287 and Phillips at 307, so not much to connect there. Both did score high on bench press with Oliver being the lowest with 32 reps. So that might be something to keep an eye on. Both did score high on vert with a score of 32″ or better.

Now with speed they are on almost complete opposite ends. Phillips does have at least an average score on his 10-yard split, so that might be something that the Bills prioritize over 40 speed. Both did score very high in agility though, so that seems to be testing that Beane looks to when it comes to DL.

Edge:

In regards to edge players, the Buffalo Bills have drafted four since 2018: Darryl Johnson (2019), AJ Epenesa (2020), and Gregory Rousseau and Carlos Basham (2021). Their average RAS score is a 6.96. The guy that brings that score down the most is Epenesa with a weak 4.07 which is below average. If you remove his score you get a 7.96, so for the most part they like their edge defenders to be athletic.

Three of the four are 6’5 or taller, also three of the four are 266 or heavier. So it seems they like guys that are taller and a little bit on the heavier side. Oddly enough none of them were able to put up more than 21 reps on the bench. Arm length does not seem to be something they find important, the lengths vary from 32 7/8″ to 34 1/2″. They do not seem to value broad jump, three of the four had jumps under 9’9″ or less. Three of the four though had vertical jumps of at least 32″.

When it comes to speed scores three of the four had 40 times of 4.8 or faster with two of them running sub 4.7. Three of the four had good to great agility scores. Some guys scored well on one test and poor on another. So it seems they just like guys who are taller/bigger and are at least above average overall athletes.

Linebacker:

Now with linebacker Brandon Beane has only drafted two since 2018. Tremaine Edmunds in 2018 and Vosean Joseph. These two ended up on completely different ends of the spectrum. Joseph’s RAS score was a paltry .22, and Edmunds was an elite 9.74.

Neither scored high on the broad jump and Edmunds didn’t do the vertical jump. So it seems they may not prioritize that testing. Joseph did not do any speed testing and Edmunds did not do any agility testing. So outside of that there isn’t much data to go off.

Defensive backs:

Brandon Beane has drafted six defensive backs in his time as the GM of the Buffalo Bills: four corners and two safeties. Their average RAS score is a mediocre 5.94. Two of the guys drafted really bring that average down. Jaquan Johnson with a 3.46 and Dane Jackson with a 4.44, all the rest scored a 6.29 or higher.

Now in regards to the corners. All of them are either 5’11 or 6’0, so they seem to like average to above average height in their corners. The lightest was Jackson at 187, with the heaviest being Siran Neal at 206. So it can be said they prefer their corners in the 190ish+ range.

When it comes to explosive testing they vary from poor to elite so I would not put too much stock in this testing mattering for the Bills front office. We can say thought that they do not prioritize agility testing, all of their testing ranges from poor to about average. Speed testing does not seem to be a priority either with three of the guys running 4.53, 4.57, 4.56, and the fourth running just a 4.5 flat.

With the safeties as far as size goes it does not seem they value big body types, with Johnson being 5’10 190 and Damar Hamlin being 6’0 7/8ths 200. Both did put up 18 reps on the bench press. Both scored pretty average with explosion testing with 9’10” and a 10’1″ broad jumps and 33″ and 35″ vertical jumps. Johnson had a poor 40 time of 4.69 and Hamlin a average 4.6. Also interesting is both had identical 20-yard splits of 2.69. Both also scored average composite agility scores.

Final Thoughts

The Bills are kind of hard to pin point with athletic testing and RAS scores. They are kind of in the middle with most of the players they have drafted. With running backs you can say athleticism isn’t a high priority with their front office. As to wide receivers they seem to have two different types, slot sized guys and tall vertical type receivers.

When it comes to offensive and defensive line they have a preference for highly athletic players. With your edge players they like guys who are taller 265+ and relatively agile. Defensive backs they are kind of all over the place. Beane seems to like guys that are between 5’11-6’1 and 190+. Outside of that they do not seem to prioritize any athletic testing.