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NFL -Team’s use of advanced measurements has been discussed warmly in recent years.
Three-time Super Bowl winner and Fox Sports NFL analyst Mark Schlereth weighs in on the debate. Schlereth, who played in the NFL long before Analytics was introduced, expressed his fortress for the use of measurements.
“There’s one thing for me. That’s the analyzes.
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The NFL shield at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California, November 25, 2024. (Kirby Lee/Magn pictures)
“Because you take these numbers and you can make them say what you want. … and the average fan thinks it will be gospel. They don’t understand how the game works, so this is a way you can basically go, ‘OK, let me put my thumb on this’ Air Shower Dimensions or Whatever Barn-
Former NFL player and current sportscaster Mark Schlereth stands on the field during a game between Arizona Cardinals and the Detroit Lions at State Farm Stadium 8 September 2019 in Glendale, Ariz. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
All 32 NFL teams had a designated employee in analyst on their staff last season.
ESPN anonymously examined each of these employees in 2024 to learn more about how teams used analyzes. Some teams lean more into analyzes than others, while some general leaders’ backgrounds could make them more likely to take an analytical first approach.
The study received 22 answers. The results named Cleveland Browns as No. 1 NFL franchise to incorporate analyzes most frequently when it comes to making decisions on football-related questions. Brown’s General Manager Andrew Berry has a master’s degree from Harvard in Computer Science. Berry works with Paul Depodesta, Browns’ Chief Strategy Officer.
The NFL logo at the entrance door to the football stadium in Glendale, Ariz., February 2, 2008. (Reuters/Mike Blake)
Before coming to Browns, Depodesta worked in the front office for several MLB teams and appeared in the movie “Moneyball.”
Schlereth also remembered a time when he had a heated debate about the use of analyzes.
“I came into an argument with a guy who spread the virtues of going in two points each time.…. So I asked the guy, ‘Let me ask you a question how many two-point spectacles do you think we go into a given (game) with?'”
Schlereth then said two plays were the standard when he played. He continued to explain how his team would practice acting and the coach’s approach to implementing any of the pieces in a game.
“You have no idea how the game works. You have no idea what we are talking about. You have no idea how we practice. You have no idea of the number of plays we have in or how we run these plays or what we are trying to exploit.”
Schlereth described Analytics as “Fluff.”
“Analytics don’t matter in football. It’s just a bunch of fluff to make us feel important, just as we as ‘analytics analysts’ really know what we’re talking about.”
