Moneyball Is Changing the Way NFL Teams Assemble Their Rosters

May 5, 2016   ·   Mike Tanier   ·   Jump to comments

Are you ready to "embrace analytics"?
The phrase makes the marriage of research and scouting sound like a forbidden romance—a coach and a statistician locked in each other's arms on the cover of some sleazy beach paperback. You can almost hear the dismissive eye-roll when old-school types mention analytics. The Browns are a "Moneyball" team now. I don't know what that means, and I don't care; I just know what to blame when everything goes haywire.
Sneers and loaded buzzwords like "Moneyball" aside, football and analytics have been cohabiting for years. Some teams are openly analytical, such as the Browns and Jaguars, and some are more hush-hush, but everyone is using statistical research to shape their rosters, draft boards and salary-cap spreadsheets.
In the 10 years that I've been affiliated with Football Outsiders, I've seen analytic principles go from scoffed-at voice-in-the-wilderness theories (Running backs wear out quickly? Nonsense, nerd) to convention...

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