Meet the Outsiders

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.
VINCENT VERHEI has been a writer and editor for Football Outsiders since 2007. In addition to writing for Football Outsiders Almanac 2019, he did all layout and design on the book. During the season, he writes the “Quick Reads” column covering the best and worst players of each week according to Football Outsiders metrics. His writings have also appeared in ESPN The Magazine and in Maple Street Press publications, and he has done layout on a number of other books for Football Outsiders and Prospectus Entertainment Ventures. His other night job is as a writer and podcast host for pro wrestling/MMA website f4wonline.com. He is a graduate of Western Washington University.
SCOTT SPRATT got into analytics through his baseball work for Sports Info Solutions and writing for ESPN and FanGraphs, but he loves football analytics because of the intricacies of the sport. He is a Sloan Analytics Research Paper Competition and Fantasy Sports Writers Association award winner and was a 2018 finalist for FSWA Football Writer of the Year for his writing for Pro Football Focus. He is an elusive native Charlottean and has the Jimmy Clausen-given scars to prove it.
MIKE TANIER has been writing Football Outsiders Almanac chapters for so long that he feels like Ringo making yet another special guest appearance during a Paul McCartney show. Mike recently wrapped up a six-year run as the NFL Lead Columnist for Bleacher Report; his popular Monday Morning Digest feature will presumably be replaced by TikTok videos, cartoon GIFs of Lamar Jackson, and long apologies. A father of two with almost 20 years of experience as an NFL writer, Mike is proof positive that we all get by with a little help from our friends. You can find his work at Fansided.com, Pro Football Network, the New York Times, and here at Football Outsiders.

FRANK FRIGO has a passion for games and markets. He is a former winner of the Backgammon World Championship in Monte Carlo and has held the number one international ranking of both on-line and live match play. Before co-founding EdjSports, he had an active 20-year career in commodity markets with an emphasis on structuring wholesale energy transactions. In 2001, he co-created the NFL’s first fully customized simulation model, Zeus, that shook the conventional wisdom of NFL coaching staffs. Frank has consulted with several NFL and NCAA Division 1 football programs and his work in sports analysis has been featured in Esquire, Fox Sports, ESPN, The New York Times and Showtime’s “Inside the NFL.”
Staff Writers
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Football Outsiders Almanac contributors: Thomas Bassinger, Dan Pizzuta
Additional content contributors: Nathan Forster
Statistical and programming contributors: John Argentiero, Jim Armstrong, Mike Harris, Abe vander Bent
Injury data collection: Josh Mongillo
Former regular contributors: Bill Barnwell, Andy Benoit, Al Bogdan, Ian Boyd, Alex Carnevale, Will Carroll, Bill Connelly, J.J. Cooper, Ian Dembsky, Cian Fahey, Doug Farrar, Stuart Fraser, David Gardner, Vin Gauri, Tim Gerheim, J.I. Halsell, Andrew Healy, Matt Hinton, Scott Kacsmar, Mike Kurtz, Russell Levine, Ned Macey, Sean McCormick, Charles McDonald, Brian McIntyre, Chad Peltier, Vivek Ramgopal, Mike Ridley, Ben Riley, Michael David Smith, Danny Tuccitto, Matt Waldman, Ryan Wilson, Sterling Xie