12 March 2024

PFF announces new PFF Game Athleticism Rating (PFF GAR)

PFF is excited to announce the launch of its new PFF Game Athleticism Rating (PFF GAR). PFF GAR has been developed using player-tracking data derived from computer vision technology and will give NFL teams yet another edge when making roster decisions.

PFF’s intention is to provide a new dimension to player evaluation to arm decision-makers with as much information as possible. Currently, NFL front offices have measures for production as well as athletic testing results (e.g., the NFL Scouting Combine), though only for some tests and some players. 

The PFF GAR rating is built from various metrics PFF computes for every player on every play, such as speeds, accelerations and changes of direction. To compute an athleticism rating, PFF aggregates the play-level metrics and scores them via each metric’s season-over-season stability by position.

To account for the fact that it’s easier for smaller players to move quickly relative to larger players, each player’s athleticism is adjusted based on their height and weight. PFF’s Game Athleticism Ratings are computed per position, representing the relative athleticism of each player compared to others at their position. After putting the finishing touches on the PFF GAR model, PFF began to explore the final outputs and have come across some promising early findings. 

Below are a few examples of current NFL rookies who scored well in our athleticism metrics and have since translated that to the field early in their NFL careers. 

NFL Rookie Spotlights

• TE Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions (2nd round): 99th-percentile PFF GAR among TE
• WR Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams (5th round): 99th-percentile PFF GAR among WR
• LB Ivan Pace Jr., Minnesota Vikings (UDFA): 84th-percentile PFF GAR among off-ball LB

Positional Insights (2020-2022 Draft classes)

• Starter: Averaging >=500 snaps/season
• S: 14 out of 16 starters have >=80th-percentile PFF GAR
• S: Of the 14 starters w/>=80th percentile PFF GAR, five ran a 40 time >=4.60
• CB: 29 out of 37 starters have >=80th-percentile PFF GAR
• EDGE 16 out of 18 starters have >=80th-percentile PFF GAR
• LB: 17 out of 18 starters have >= 80th-percentile PFF GAR
• LB: 14 out of 18 starters have >=90th-percentile PFF GAR
• WR: 28 out of 33 starters have >=80th-percentile PFF GAR
• WR: 20 out of 33 starters have >=90th-percentile PFF GAR
• TE: 10 out of 11 starters have >=80th-percentile PFF GAR
• TE: 7 out of 11 starters have >=90th-percentile PFF GAR
• OT: 19 out of 22 starters have >=80th-percentile PFF GAR
• OT: 10 out of 19 starters have >=90th-percentile PFF GAR

2024 NFL Draft WR Spotlight Our 2024 draft spotlight focuses on wide receivers and their max percentile in PFF GAR over their careers. We’ve seen that earning a high PFF GAR in any season is the most useful for predicting NFL players, so we’ve called out the highest ranking in their NCAA career.

• Malik Nabers, LSU — 99th percentile
• Adonai Mitchell, Texas — 99th 
• Xavier Worthy, Texas —99th 
• Xavier Legette, South Carolina — 99th 
• Rome Odunze, Washington — 98th
• Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State — 96th 
• Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State — 93rd 
• Keon Coleman, Florida State — 93rd 
• Troy Franklin, Oregon — 92nd 
• Johnny Wilson, Florida State — 91st 
• Malachi Corley, Western Kentucky — 81st 

The PFF Game Athleticism Rating is available via API/feeds and tools for all PFF IQ users. Additional data points will continue to be added for IQ users.

Steve Palazzolo, PFF’s head of Product, says: “Quantifying on-field speed, acceleration and change of direction has always been a goal of football evaluators, and the PFF Game Athleticism Rating allows us to isolate a player’s ‘game speed.’ Whether projecting college players to the NFL or evaluating potential transfers in the portal, our team has provided another excellent tool for the player-evaluation toolbox.”

Please note: PFF GAR is not available via our consumer subscription. This metric is strictly for our team clients. Please visit PFF’s B2B site for more information. new PFF Game Athleticism Rating (PFF GAR). PFF GAR has been developed using player-tracking data derived from computer vision technology and will give NFL teams yet another edge when making roster decisions.

View All News