It’s official; there will be no preseason this year in the NFL. This move was certainly made as a precautionary measure to limit the spread of COVID-19, but, on the bright side, training camps appear to be set to go on as planned, and with baseball returning, there’s hope that the NFL season can take place in 2020. With there being no preseason games, teams’ … Continue reading Ranking Every NFL Team’s Offense Heading Into 2020
Whereas baseball is filled with advanced statistics, other sports, particularly football, have lagged behind. For analysis, the common fan too often turns to unstable, flawed statistics such as yards gained/allowed, turnovers, and touchdowns, and, as a result, NFL players tend to be more polarizing than MLB players- analysts are using different variables to compare players. Luckily for us, Pro Football Focus’ grades and new Wins Above … Continue reading Fine-Tuning Wins Above Replacement To Better Capture an NFL Player’s $/Year Value
Team-building is just a fascinating phenomenon is sports, and, honestly, it is my favorite part about studying them. There are so many different strategies that lead executives take towards building a championship-caliber roster, and since they come from different backgrounds, their values are completely different. There isn’t a sport where this isn’t more obvious than in the NFL. While more executives are “analytically-minded” and have … Continue reading What Actually Wins NFL Games? Not What Conventional Wisdom Wants You To Believe!
As we get closer to the NFL season, there will be plenty of debate on how the top teams in the NFL are, and who will win Super Bowl LV. However, since we’re in a “dead period” of the NFL offseason, now would seem like a great time to look towards the future. Today, we’ll look at each team’s future, ranking them based on their … Continue reading Ranking Each NFL Team’s Future Outlook Through a Systematic Lens
We have officially made it! For the last month, the numbers have given us an idea of who the top players are at every position, and today, we’ll finish up the series by looking at the top safeties in the NFL. Since we’re combining rangy free safeties with versatile chess-pieces, there are a lot of different styles of players on this list, which is what … Continue reading Ranking The Top 116 Safeties From a Mathematical Perspective
We’ve officially ranked the top players at each position in a defensive front seven, so now, it’s time to turn our attention to the most valuable part of a defense- the cornerbacks. With the way that passing offenses have evolved, teams have no choice but to be extremely deep at this position, regardless of what defensive scheme they run. At the same time, this tends … Continue reading Ranking The Top 152 Cornerbacks From a Mathematical Perspective
Recently, we’ve gone over who rates out as the best interior defenders and edge rushers in the NFL. Now, we’ll complete our deep dive in the front seven, this time looking at the top linebackers in the NFL. As football continues to evolve into a spread-out passing game predicated on speed, the value of the linebacker position, especially their ability to stop the run, has … Continue reading Ranking The Top 121 Linebackers From a Mathematical Perspective
Recently, we got a good idea of who the best front-four defenders were by ranking the top interior defensive linemen in the NFL. However, outside of Aaron Donald, most of the elite pass rushers come from the edge rush position, so this ranking the top edge rushers will give us a good idea of which teams will be the most effective at pressuring opposing quarterbacks. … Continue reading Ranking The Top 131 Edge Rushers From a Mathematical Perspective
As the NFL has evolved into a dynamic passing league, the need for interior defensive linemen has gone down. However, if you can effectively rush the passer, interior defenders can definitely still make an impact, and overall, this is a rather deep position. Placing an emphasis on pass-rush ability, we’ll let the numbers dictate who the top players are at this position. Before we start, … Continue reading Ranking The Top 131 Interior Defensive Linemen From a Mathematical Perspective
After examining who the numbers thought were the top offensive tackles in the NFL, it’s time to do the same, but this time, on the interior. Although it’s a more replaceable position than offensive tackle, interior offensive linemen generate on average the same amount of Wins Above Replacement as tackles, per Pro Football Focus, and avoiding interior pressure is obviously critical- it’s paramount that teams avoid weak … Continue reading Ranking The Top 138 Interior Offensive Linemen From a Mathematical Perspective
