Quote:http://nfl.si.com/2014/05/14/jacksonvill...nfl-draft/


Cool article about Tony and metrics during the draft.

 

I really like the idea of bringing metrics into football.  And I think it can potentially be a great tool to use to back up what real scouts see on tape.  However I continue to be underwhelmed by the analysis I've seen Tony Khan's team doing when I read these articles.  I remember when the story broke about how Gabbert was so good when facing no rush and how it was Tony's analytics that discovered that(Although "Time in the Pocket" isnt his analysis... its produced by those football analytic websites).  Are statistical metrics in football stuck so far in the stone age that tracking how a QB does under pressure vs a clean pocket is ground breaking?  Are not all teams regularly tracking this kind of information?  I'd be curious to know what else Tony's team is doing.  Every article I've seen they just track basic stats and try to make a correlation.  I wonder how far they've looked into advanced metrics.  And are they creating their own or just taking stuff from pro football focus or football outsiders like they did with the Gabbert "Time in the Pocket" ?

 

When helping the team scout college players, what advanced metrics are they using?  Are they breaking down footage of lets say the top 30 RB prospects?  Are they doing their own analysis or just taking the "Elusive Rating" or "Breakaway Percentage" from those analytic websites?  I know there is some thought that any RB can make it through a huge hole, how well do they perform beyond those first 10 yards.  A more specific look at "Breakaway Percentage".  I know Barnwell over at Grantland did an analysis on short yardage carries.  But he just simply looked at yards and conversion.  I dont believe he took into account the line in front of the RB or weighted it against the averages.  Who hit the hole and who missed it or if there was a hole there at all.  I'm sure looking at pure yards or conversion in those situations would account for a large percentage of the success but there are other factors that could easily skew that.  Is our analytics team diving into research like that?

 

I'm sure Tony is a smart guy.  Seems to have a solid background.  But as someone who currently works in analytics and got a second major in math just because its easy for me, I'm very underwhelmed with the analysis that I've seen them do.  The potential for this use is limitless.  And we've got an owner who will spend.  I think this area could be a huge leg up for us against the other teams and I wonder if we're maximizing the potential of our analytics department.

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