Days of the Draft
The latest newsletter from KCSN Sports Data Scientist, Joseph Hefner
Every team wants to draft superstars. Every team wants the players they draft to pay off in a big way. Every fan wants their team to have the best draft every year. None of us are immune to this. We read and write an incredible amount about the draft every year leading up to it. Some people write about so many prospects in such detail that the massive tome they publish is called The Beast. Others look at 300+ players and how they would fit on a specific team.
After the draft, article after article comes out looking at how well teams did in the draft. Or how players will (or will not) fit on the team that drafted them. I mean, just look at me. Last week I wrote about Approximate Value and what it can tell us about the NFL draft. The week before that? What trade charts teams use when trading picks during the draft. The draft is big business, and we all participate in some way.
This week is no different. Instead of looking at the draft from year to year like I did last week, I wanted to look at the draft from the lens of what round teams are picking from. Are some teams better at drafting players in the first round? Are the Rams actually good at drafting players on Day 3? Sometimes looking at the same data with a different split can shine a light on new insights. Hopefully, that is what happens in this article.
