The RB Radar Chart
What is a radar chart?
A radar chart is a way to quickly and effectively present information, especially when showing how a player compares across multiple statistics and their percentiles in those statistics. It has become one of the default ways of showing player stats in the other football (soccer) for how easily it conveys data, and was popularized by Ted Knutson and the team at Statsbomb.
Why use them?
Radar charts give a quick and easy look at the kind of player you are looking for. The statistics represent different RB archetypes. Do you have a pure power runner, a scatback, or an all-rounder? Does the RB play a high or low variance game?
However, there are a few things to remember when looking at these charts. All this represents is statistical output, and if you had players on other teams or in different situations, it would most likely affect all the numbers.
This is only a tool to help evaluate players and add extra context to a holistic evaluation.
The Stats and the Data Set
The data is all sourced from PFF and includes all RBs who played FBS football from 2015 to the present with at least 20 carries, and compares the RB against their draft year, unless otherwise specified. These stats were chosen because I believe they best exemplify what type of RB a prospect is.
- PFF Offense Grade - A proprietary PFF rating system where they analyze the player's effectiveness towards overall offensive contribution.
- PFF Run Grade - A proprietary PFF rating system where they analyze the player's effectiveness in the offensive run game.
- Yards Per Attempt - Exactly as it sounds.
- Yards After Contact Per Attempt - Also exactly as it sounds
- Pass Block Grade - A proprietary PFF rating system where they analyze the player's effectiveness while pass blocking.
- Receiving Grade - A proprietary PFF rating system where they analyze the player's effectiveness as a receiver.
- Yards Per Route Run - Exactly as it sounds.
- Fumble Grade - A proprietary PFF rating system where they analyze the player's effectiveness at not fumbling.
And now for some fun examples of RB archetypes!
