SPARQ edge rushers - 2017 draft class

[*ochocincos*]

What is SPARQ? It's an acronym coined by NIKE in 2004 that stands for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, and Quickness. It was intended to combine of all of these aspects of an athlete to give some type of overall grade to his or her athleticism. It was essentially supposed to be treated like a standardized test for sports training.

NIKE's program ended back around 2009 to 2010, but 3sigmaathlete.com still uses the formula to give athleticism scores to NFL draft prospects.

For 2017, the top 10 edge players based on SPARQ are:
(note - a 0.0 z-score and 50.0 NFL% represents NFL league-average athlete at the position)

1) Tyus Bowser, OLB Houston - pSPARQ = 142.7, z-score = 1.7, NFL% = 95.8%
2) Jordan Willis, DE Kansas St - pSPARQ = 140.8, z-score = 1.6, NFL% = 94.4%
3) TJ Watt, OLB Wisconsin - pSPARQ = 140.4, z-score = 1.6, NFL% = 94.0%
4) Solomon Thomas, DL Stanford - pSPARQ = 140.3, z-score = 1.6, NFL% = 94.0%
5) Hassan Reddick, OLB Temple - pSPARQ = 139.3, z-score = 1.5, NFL% = 93.0%
6) Trey Hendrickson, DL Florida Atlantic - pSPARQ = 136.1, z-score = 1.2, NFL% = 89.2%
7) Derek Rivers, DE YSU - pSPARQ = 130.9, z-score = 0.8, NFL% = 80.1%
8) Daeshon Hall, DE Texas A&M - pSPARQ = 129.3, z-score = 0.7, NFL% = 76.7%
9) Carl Lawson, DE Auburn - pSPARQ = 124.9, z-score = 0.4, NFL% = 65.3%
10) Deatrich Wise Jr, DE Arkansas - pSPARQ = 123.8, z-score = 0.3, NFL% = 62.2%

For the rest of the list, other positions, and/or the 2015 and 2016 results, check out https://3sigmaathlete.com/

Related note - It's no secret I've wanted Jordan Willis or Solomon Thomas, and that was prior to me finding this site. This site only helps support why I think these players will be very good NFL pass rushers.