The 53 Man Roster

The latest newsletter from KCSN Sports Data Scientist, Joseph Hefner.

I’m writing this article on Friday night. It’s a roster prediction article. It will come out on Monday morning, after our next preseason game. That means a full 33% of the data needed to make accurate predictions hasn’t happened yet, but that game will have already been played by the time you read it. That gives me a very good chance of looking like an idiot. This is gonna be awesome!!

We’ve been making roster predictions since training camp started. Honestly, the more degenerate fans among us have been making them even longer than that. We’re addicted to football; we can’t help ourselves!! Training camp gives us some good indicators as to who the coaches like, and in what roles. Our staff likes to mix things up, so pretty much everyone gets chances with the ones and twos, but you can follow the trends if you’re watching closely enough.

Preseason is where the positions really solidify though. Preseason snaps, against live opponents, are too precious to waste. That makes it much easier to see which players the coaches think are going to be starters and role players. The very fringe of the roster usually has a couple of spots that are harder to discern, but most spots become obvious by the end of the preseason.