Stat Analysis

In two NFL seasons, Alvin Kamara has established himself as one of the best pass-catching running backs in the NFL, no matter where he lines up on the field. Scott Spratt looks at other running backs and tight ends who don't always line up at running back or tight end.

Players going too high in fantasy drafts across the world include a trio of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, wide receivers returning from injury, a tight end who might not even be starting, and a kicker who is due to return to form.

Once upon a time, we predicted that Ahmad Bradshaw, Brent Celek, and Pierre Thomas would have long, productive NFL careers. Of course, we said the same thing about Josh Beekman, H.B. Blades, and Mansfield Wrotto. Rivers McCown looks back at what we got right and what we got wrong.

Why was the Eagles' season so weird, and what does that tell us about how Nick Foles might fare in Jacksonville? How did Amari Cooper's arrival change Dak Prescott's style in Dallas? What do Ben Roethlisberger and Deshaun Watson have in common? And why must Seattle do everything different than anyone else does?

Tyreek Hill was the NFL's most valuable wideout from the slot last year, while Mike Evans was the most productive when lined up out wide. Our numbers show which players specialized in one role or the other, and whose performance changed from 2017.

The Steelers had the NFL's best defense against play-action passes in 2018, but they were dreadful against straight dropbacks. The Vikings were excellent against straight dropbacks but got strafed by play-action. And most defenses had wildly different results in 2018 than in 2017. We scratch our heads and try to make sense of it all.

Guest columnist John Kinsley reviewed every quarterback's deep passes from last season and found Andrew Luck at the top of the heap. Who else were the best (and worst) deep-ball throwers in 2018, and whose results changed the most from 2017?

NFL teams are using play-action more than ever, and Sean McVay is at the front of that revolution -- but he's not relying on a play-action style that's common among Andy Reid and his disciples.

Only a few offenses these days use fullbacks regularly -- which can yield some unusual results for those teams' defenses.

The I formation is not dead! The Patriots won the Super Bowl while using a lot of James Develin, while Kyle Juszczyk was a key player for San Francisco. We look at which teams still rely on fullbacks and which don't, how teams are changing in this regard.