The Model Score is StickToTheModel's 0-100 rating of how good a player is and, for college players, how much an NFL team should want him. College players are graded on every season of their stats, adjusted for the competition they faced, their age and sample size, plus their honors, recruiting pedigree and size. NFL players are graded on their season-by-season production at their position. The median is about 70; a 99 is the best at his position that season.
Updated Sept. 25, 2026.
Each season, a player's stats are ranked against every player at his position that year, so a guard is compared to guards. For college players that season grade is then adjusted for competition (his conference and the actual defenses or offenses he faced), for age (a big season as a freshman counts for more than the same season as a fifth-year senior) and for sample size (a three-game hot streak is pulled toward an average season; for linemen it is pass-block snaps that decide how much a season counts).
The career score mixes his seasons (this one, his best one and his average) with what scouts weigh that a box score cannot see: All-America and all-conference honors, recruiting pedigree, size for the position, how early he broke out, and for defensive backs, the pass defense he played in. Each position has its own mix, and every weight was kept only if it made the score agree better with where players were actually drafted, in both halves of ten years of drafts.
The NFL version is built from each season's production at the position and does not use the college-only pieces. Both are recomputed every week in season. The full method, with each position's weights, is on the Model Score methodology page.
Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore made few tackles in 2025 because quarterbacks avoided him. The corner grade does not count tackles; it counts breakups and interceptions, adds credit for the pass defense he anchored, his All-America honor and his pedigree, and he scores 99.
Season grade = weighted percentiles of the season's stats within the position and year, adjusted for competition, age and sample size. Career score = the position's mix of current season, best season and average season plus honors, pedigree, size and breakout, ranked within the position that season to 0-100.
Not by itself. It is a rating of the player, fitted so it agrees with where players get drafted as well as the data allows. The big board's Projection column turns it into a draft round, with the scouts' consensus rank as the floor.
A 99 means the best at his position that season after adjusting for his competition. A small-school player has to put up clearly bigger numbers to get there, and his conference honors count for less than a Power conference player's.
Every week during the season. A player having a worse year than his last goes down.
Category: Stats & Analytics. Part of the StickToTheModel NFL Encyclopedia.