The use of Moneyball in the NFL and beyond

Over the last few years, the Moneyball approach to player recruitment has spread throughout the globe and become highly popular across a wide array of different sports. Initially, the strategy came to the forefront following Michael Lewis’ 2003 book that highlighted how Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics general manager, worked to make his team competitive despite working in a smaller market and thus, a smaller budget. Since then, however, utilizing statistical data has proved its worth in modern-day sport.

Moneyball’s effect on the NFL

Generally, Moneyball is an approach to acquiring players while they are undervalued on the market, while also selling the assets that you have when they’re overvalued. Within the NFL, many believe that it was the work of the Cleveland Browns and, more specifically, the influence of Paul DePodesta that helped to bring the analysis method of recruitment to football in the NFL.

Before making the switch to the NFL, DePodesta worked alongside Beane to incorporate a more refined and sophisticated manner of purchasing players for the Athletics. In 2016, the now 47-year-old was hired by the Cleveland Browns to be their chief strategy officer.

Most recently, he used this strategy to help the Browns land Odell Beckham Jr., in addition to Sheldon Richardson and Kareen Hunt in free agency. While the Browns have generally underachieved because of poor coaching, it is hard to argue that the Browns have an inferior roster. With the right coaching in place, they can make some noise.

The wider success of using data for recruitment
Outside of baseball and American football, Moneyball has also proven that it has the capabilities to succeed in England’s top soccer divisions. Ever since Fenway Sports Group and John Henry took over Liverpool Football Club back in 2010, the reigning champions of Europe have adopted a numbers-focused approach to player recruitment.

Along with Michael Edwards, the club’s sporting director, Ian Graham has been behind several of the Reds’ recent transfers, including Naby Keita. According to Graham’s data, while the Guinean may have had a lower pass completion rate than some of Europe’s other elite midfielders, his passes would present teammates with better scoring opportunities.

Along with this season’s runaway Premier League leaders finding success in the approach, Championship side Brentford are also thriving in the competitive transfer market through their heavily analytics-driven strategy.

According to Transfermarkt, the Bees signed defender Ezri Konsa from Charlton for approximately £2.5 million in 2018, before then selling him one year later to Aston Villa, making them a profit of almost £10 million.

Moreover, the approach also saw them buy Ollie Watkins from Exeter City for a reported £1.8 million. This season, the 24-year-old is the joint-top scorer in the division with 19 goals at the time of writing and is a central factor as to why Brentford are 15/8 with Championship betting to finish in the top two come the end of the campaign as of February 4th.

Stats Can Unearth Hidden Gems

Moneyball has been responsible for revolutionizing the sporting world all across the globe. From baseball to the NFL and English soccer, analyzing potential new assets from a value-against-performance standpoint can, and has, allowed for those with stricter financial constraints to compete at the very top of their respective sport.