Baseball Exec Going to the NFL

This is an interesting development in the sports world:

The Browns just hired a baseball executive to run their team, and it could change football forever
sports.yahoo.com/news/browns-just-hired-baseball-executive-175441605.html

Looks like sabermetrics could be coming to the NFL!

We will see...but this poses the question about sabermetrics. Baseball is a game driven by numbers. Football, at least to me, has never been a game driven by numbers.

I think Paul can still do a good job in this role but I don't know if it will be done through sabermetrics.

Will be very interesting to see how this plays out. Especially dealing with such a small sample size of live action.

Smokies Man wrote:We will see...but this poses the question about sabermetrics.  Baseball is a game driven by numbers.  Football, at least to me, has never been a game driven by numbers.

I disagree with this, actually. Baseball was the first game where it was possible to collect advanced stats, possibly because there's just so much data and because the matchups tend to be discrete (i.e., pitcher vs. hitter). I think the issue in football is not that it's not "driven by numbers," but rather that it's been a challenge to find the right numbers. It's harder to isolate elements of football plays to credit them to individual players, but that's not the same as saying it's impossible.

What may be impossible, however, is turning a deeply dysfunctional Browns franchise into a winner, DePo or no DePo. I feel very sorry for the fans in Cleveland, who deserve better.

Colin Mills wrote:it's been a challenge to find the right numbers.  It's harder to isolate elements of football plays to credit them to individual players, but that's not the same as saying it's impossible.

100% agree. Perhaps this guy has discovered them?

Maybe he has. I guess the Browns are about to find out. (And it's not like he could do much worse than the guys who came before him.)

If DePo succeeds in Cleveland, wonder if we'll start seeing more MLB stat wizards making the jump? Analytical thinking is so advanced in baseball that it's harder to gain an edge.