The 30% Rule is a requirement that affects contracts that run past the end of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The rule stipulates that a player’s salary cannot rise more than 30% of his salary for the final CBA year in subsequent seasons. This impacts how teams can structure contracts, particularly with respect to…
2018 Season / Playoffs The New England Secondary: Exploit the Hesitation Lead writer Mark Schofield wrote before the Super Bowl how the New England Patriots could confuse Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff, a piece that looks prescient given the dominant defensive performance they turned in. The Top 10 NFL Games of 2018 Jake Schwanitz…
Here we are in December, and the same statement I made one year ago is true today: While many fan bases and ownership groups are excited about the weeks to come, there are some who are closing the chapter on 2019 and looking into the future. We have already seen this with coaching moves in…
In the four seasons since their last Super Bowl victory, the Denver Broncos have been in desperate search for their next franchise quarterback. Failed draft picks, free agent signings, and longshots have all tried to right the ship, unsuccessfully. Now Drew Lock is the one who is tasked with turning the Broncos franchise back in…
The Baltimore Ravens offense has looked absolutely unstoppable this season. While their 20-17 win over the NFC-leading San Francisco 49ers wasn’t quite as impressive as their 45-6 walloping of the defending NFC champion Los Angeles Rams the Monday prior, it was still enough to claim a win against the NFL’s top defense by yardage. The…
The NFL scheduled a workout for Colin Kaepernick in front of a couple dozen NFL teams on Saturday, but as with pretty much everything in Kaepernick’s career, things didn’t go as planned. Ultimately, Kaepernick did work out, but independently and for only a handful of teams, an hour later and a few miles away from…
Is anyone in the NFL more improved than Jacksonville Jaguars receiver DJ Chark? A second-round pick in the 2018 draft, Chark caught only 14 of his 32 targets as a rookie for 174 yards and zero touchdowns. He nearly eclipsed those totals in Week 1 this year, tallying 146 yards and a score in a…
Each year the NFL scouting community engages in a shuffle, as both personnel and scouts move between organizations. Sometimes these are individual movements and promotions from team to team, but other times these moves indicate a new front office that is looking to make a shift in the team’s philosophy. This tracker I have put together…
The Minnesota Vikings prevailed over Washington 19-9 in a Thursday night game that featured a statistical oddity: Minnesota never punted, ran for 161 yards, quarterback Kirk Cousins completed 23 of 26 passes with no interceptions, and yet the Vikings could not even score 20 points. How does this happen? It was the lowest-scoring output by…
The NFL analytics community has known for a while that deep passing is more efficient than short passing. Dan Pizzuta wrote recently that “just under 18% of passes have traveled over 15 yards past the line of scrimmage and those attempts have made up for 133% of the league-wide passing EPA [Expected Points Added].” In…
When asked how much analytics informs the New England Patriots‘ decision-making in key situations, Bill Belichick answered simply, “less than zero.” This prompted several snide responses from the Twitter machine, such as: Obviously “less than zero” is a mathematical impossibility, and it’s hard to imagine that the famously thorough Belichick is utterly unfamiliar with the…
The NFL has seen a new breed of quarterback enter the league this decade. Patrick Mahomes, Carson Wentz, Cam Newton and Deshaun Watson separated themselves from the majority of NFL quarterbacks with their dynamic ability to play quarterback. These all-around playmaking quarterbacks had questions about how they would adapt to the league entering the NFL…
All salary figures courtesy of OverTheCap.com unless otherwise specified. These days, it seems like nothing brings out the reactions like running back news. The old school loves the smashmouth style. Analytics-minded pundits downplay the importance of what was once the game’s glamour position. Dallas Cowboys back Ezekiel Elliott has been a lightning rod for such…
As if there was any other choice for the #1 NFL game of 2018-19. The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams were set on a collision course for week 11 on Monday Night Football. Both teams entered this game at 9-1 and on top of their respective conferences. Originally a scheduled as a neutral…
The best playoff game of the 2018-19 NFL season was without a doubt the AFC Championship. The headlines wrote themselves. Tom Brady, the ageless wonder, playing for a championship at age 41 against the wonder kid and eventual league MVP Patrick Mahomes. A team gunning for their sixth Super Bowl title in 18 years against…
The Minnesota Vikings traveled to Los Angeles in Week 4 on a Thursday night to take on the Los Angeles Rams. An air show broke out. Kirk Cousins showcased his skills as a passer in the number eight game of 2018 when the Vikings faced the Green Bay Packers in week 2. The Vikings had…