Compared to Bill James by The New York Times Magazine, and attributed as a “founding father of football analytics” by The Ringer, AARON SCHATZ is the creator and Editor-in-Chief of Football Outsiders. Aaron is also the creator of most of the original statistical methods (DVOA, DYAR) used in NFL analysis on this website, as well as Lead Writer, Editor, and Statistician on the book series Football Outsiders Almanac (published since 2009). He also writes for ESPN.com and ESPN+, and appears weekly during the NFL season on the Off The Charts podcast. During the 2011 season, he was a regular panelist on the ESPN2 show Numbers Never Lie. Before Football Outsiders, Aaron spent five years as a radio host at WBRU Providence and WKRO Daytona Beach, and three years as the writer and producer of the Lycos 50, the Internet's foremost authority on the people, places, and things that are searched online. He has written on sports, politics, and taxes for a number of publications including The New Republic, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Slate, The American Prospect, and the Boston Phoenix. Aaron resides in Worcester, Massachusetts and yes, is a New England Patriots fan.
This one is a bit of a surprise. DeCastro has made six straight Pro Bowls. He was making it a bit based on reputation at this point, but he's still pretty good in pass protection. He's also had some ankle surgeries and the talk on Twitter is that he might need to retire.
Arjun Menon of the Michigan Football Analytics Society took a closer look at some of our adjusted games lost numbers over the last decade, identifying the teams with the best and worst injury records.
Our new article on ESPN+ gives a sneak peak at projections from Football Outsiders Almanac 2021, with a look at our forecast for the top 10 picks in the 2022 NFL draft. We have the Jets at No. 1, the Texans at No. 2, and a surprising team at No. 9.
A look at historical aggressiveness on fourth downs shows how much the league has changed since 2018. An all-time list including 131 different head coaches is topped by recent unsurprising names (Pederson, Nagy, Payton) and more surprising older names (Bruce Coslet! Jim Haslett!).
Football analytics is slowly winning the battle over fourth downs, as 2020 was the most aggressive season in NFL history for go-for-it decisions. Thirty-three of 35 head coaches had an Aggressiveness Index above 1.0 last year! Find out who came out on top, with names both expected and unexpected.
Just in time for the NFL draft, UniWatch has a cool look at the basic designs of NFL facemasks, from the OPO to the EGOP (aka "The Deion"). Find out why each player's facemask is shaped the way it is.
Carolina is dealing quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to Denver for a sixth-round pick. Apparently Carolina will pay $7 million of Bridgewater's contract, Denver will pay $3 million. Congratulations, Teddy, you wanted out of Carolina...
Well, Kansas City has its new left tackle, and Orlando Brown is getting to play left tackle like he wanted. I'm stunned that Baltimore was willing to do this deal with Kansas City, a major rival considering these are probably two of the top three teams in the AFC right now.
The league passed new rules proposals today. More available numbers for players is the biggest news. (Click link for more.)
Patriots slot receiver Julian Edelman retired today after a 12-year career that included a Super Bowl MVP award. No, he's not going down to play with Tom Brady in Tampa Bay; his knees are shot. So now we're going to have the Edelman Hall of Fame argument.
