Always good to hear from you during the off-season Ben.
A few (hopefully encouraging) notes from a non-industry subscriber who appreciates your work:
- it can feel at times like your need to defend your approach takes away from what you do best
- what you do best prior to the season is the macro-level observations (based not just on data, but from someone who actually watches games) and then during the season it's the application of those trends down to the player and team level. That's why your weekly write-ups are so helpful.
- Getting to hear your own verbal deliberation between options, trends, ideas is also extremely helpful. Those times when you sense there is something to see and you don't know exactly what it is, but you give us a few ideas
In super simple terms, here's what I appreciate about you: You teach us to think. Others tell us what to think.
I'm sure there's a place for both types of analysis, but personally I'm just not that interested in the second category. This is why I don't find projections all that useful.
In response to your comment about content ideas, these may not be a good fit, but some things that come to mind:
- It does feel like we get to "consensus" rankings really quickly in any given year. How does that happen? And does it unknowingly lead to a very dangerous groupthink that is hard to break out from? (we feel safe bc we are in the majority, not for any reason besides that)
- If some of the more recent strategies are becoming less effective (mobile QBs, first round rookies, concentrated WR rooms), where should we pivot to?
- The ramifications of the new field position, how there are less yards to go around, and maybe more risky go-for-it calls, but maybe more TDs. Does this open up a new type of player target?
- A range of outcomes version of projections, where you apply some of your macro-level thinking to each team, and give us a few viable scenarios and the what-if's. Not to give us definitive answers, but to make an attempt at getting ahead of the chaos and variance of the NFL season.
Thanks Ben
