Looks like "Moneyball" is coming to the NFL, with the Browns' hire of Paul DePodesta, the analytics guy behind the famed Oakland As philosophy. I would argue that "Moneyball" is already here, and that Ted Thompson has been using it (perhaps not to as extreme of a degree) for years.
DePodesta would like decisions to be informed by 60 percent data, 40 percent scouting. Present-day NFL is more 70 percent scouting and 30 percent data. DePodesta won't just ponder scouts' performance but question their very existence. Will likewise flip burden of proof on all football processes, models and systems. Objective data regarding, say, a player's size and his performance metrics -- example: Defensive ends must have arm length of at least 33∏ inches -- will dictate decision-making. Football staff will then have to produce overwhelming subjective argument to overrule or disprove analytics.
I do view our team as a "financially disadvantaged" franchise in the league. However I feel that Ted brings about a good balance of this sort of analytic. He is a football guy, so he's very strong in the scouting department. I do believe that's important. There are alot of intangibles when it comes to assessing players. However Ted's main interest is a player's VALUE.
How VALUABLE is this player, compared to how much we are (and will be) able to pay them?
I know for a fact they have various metrics for players too. For example, iirc there were articles about how they drafted Cobb "despite" his height. Normally they wouldn't go below 6', something like that. But from a scouting standpoint, an overwhelming subjective argument overruled that analytic.
There are many good and great players out there. Ted doesn't care about that. What he cares about is, how VALUABLE are they? In particular, how valuable are they,
to our team?Moneyball Wiki Sabermetrics
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”