THE POWER RANK

Podcast: John Sears on sports analytics

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John Sears, a special advisor to the Los Angeles Dodgers, joins the show for a wide ranging conversation. John has a graduate degree from Stanford and has also worked for the Philadelphia 76ers. Highlights include:

  • His first experience with applied math (7:48)
  • Working at the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis (12:32)
  • The decision to go to grad school (19:00)
  • The latest baseball data sets that John and the Dodgers are hiring quants to work on (26:09)
  • The 2015 NBA draft with Philadelphia (33:50)
  • Working with the Minnesota Timberwolves and match up problems (45:18)
  • How to break into sports analytics (52:09)

The story about the 2015 NBA draft is an incredible lesson in predictive analytics, and I highly recommend listening to the seven minutes starting at 33:50. To listen here, click on the right pointing triangle.

This episode of The Football Analytics Show is also available on:

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Podcast: The Pick Report

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Interceptions play a critical role in football. However, randomness plays a big role, which makes these critical plays difficult to predict.

This episode describes my research into how to predict interceptions. The narrative starts in football but then ventures into some ideas about skill vs luck from Michael Maubossian’s book The Success Equation. Interceptions are also compared with three pointers in basketball.

This was originally released as a paid product, but now I am putting it out there for free. To listen here, click on the right pointing triangle:

This solo episode of The Football Analytics Show is also available on:

Support the podcast on Patreon and get a premium solo episode every month.

Podcast: Kevin Cole on the 2023 NFL draft

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Kevin Cole, football analytics expert and founder of Unexpected Points, joins the show for a wide ranging conversation. Highlights include:

  • Are NFL teams getting smarter at drafting players? (3:00)
  • Why it’s harder to build a team in 2023 (11:32)
  • Houston and trading up for the 3rd pick (13:56)
  • Arizona, trading down and trading back up (18:50)
  • Why Philadelphia traded up one pick (22:00)
  • Philadelphia and consensus big boards vs actual draft position (26:25)
  • The problem with Jalen Carter, and it’s not the legal issues (32:16)
  • The teams with the best grades by Kevin’s objective methods (34:55)
  • How Kevin rates this QB class (38:17)
  • A Will Levis comp (40:45)
  • The teams with the worst draft grades (43:43)
  • Detroit, their surprising draft grade and the NFC North market (48:55)
  • How much does the draft matter in predicting the 2023 season? (57:25)

As always, it was an enlightening conversation with Kevin. To listen here, click on the right pointing triangle:

This episode of The Football Analytics Show is also available on:

Support the podcast on Patreon and get the 2023 football preview series.

Podcast: Matt Waldman on predicting NFL players based on watching film

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Matt Waldman, creator of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio and senior writer for Football Guys, joins the show for a wide ranging conversation. Highlights include:

  • The wildly overrated 1st round QB in the 2023 NFL draft (11:38)
  • Baker Mayfield (17:50)
  • The QB that might seem overrated but isn’t (21:10)
  • Anthony Richardson’s development (28:57)
  • How NFL players develop skills (35:25)
  • The difference between college and the NFL (39:40)
  • Talent vs hard work (42:16)
  • Mental aspect of playing wide receiver, Kenny Golladay, Gabriel Davis (52:36)

This is one of my favorite conversations every year. I highly recommend purchasing a copy of the 2023 Rookie Scouting Portfolio.

To listen here, click on the right pointing triangle.

This episode of The Football Analytics Show is also available on:

Support the podcast on Patreon and get a premium episode every month.

Podcast: Benjamin Robinson on predicting the 2023 NFL draft

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Benjamin Robinson, who uses wisdom of crowds to predict the NFL draft at Grinding the Mocks, joins the show for a wide ranging conversation. Highlights include:

  • New research on predicting the NFL draft (6:56)
  • NFL big boards (10:00)
  • When to use wisdom of crowds to bet (15:00)
  • Quarterbacks (19:50)
  • The first pick (30:30)
  • Defensive players (33:47)
  • A surprise prediction (38:24)

He often talked about his NFL mock draft at Football Outsiders. To listen here, click on the right pointing triangle.

This episode of The Football Analytics Show is also available on:

Support the podcast on Patreon and get the patron only episode on predicting the NFL season with wisdom of crowds.