In the upcoming 2024 season, the Washington Commanders are expected to have one of the most athletic quarterbacks in the NFL with Jayden Daniels. Daniels has been compared to Lamar Jackson due to his impressive running abilities but is also considered a more advanced passer than Jackson was when he entered the league in 2018.
However, there is still a question about the overall athleticism of the rest of the Commanders’ roster. Kent Lee Platte, who created the Relative Athletic Score (RAS) metric that measures player athleticism, has ranked Washington as having the 20th-most athletic roster in 2024. This ranking is based on the team’s average RAS of 7.29.
Despite this ranking, Washington had the highest RAS from the 2024 NFL draft, with an average of 9.427. This draft class was also new general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn’s first together. It seems that they are focused on targeting elite athletes for their team, as evidenced by their emphasis on athleticism during drafting process.
While their draft class was highly athletic, it appears that Washington still ranks 20th in terms of overall athleteism on their roster. This suggests that they have been building a team of good football players who are also high-level athletes. In recent years, Washington has struggled with both aspects, lacking enough elite athletes and skilled football players on field.
Peters and Quinn seem determined to change this narrative moving forward and create a more well-rounded team that can compete at a high level both physically and mentally.
