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Dan is currently the lead NFL writer and editor for Sharp Football Analysis. He has also contributed to the Football Outsiders Almanac for the past three years.
The following is from the 2022 Sharp Football Preview In this book, you're going to read a lot about aggressiveness on offense. Often, that's the best way forward. As spread offenses and superhuman robot quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert entered the NFL, there was always a question about how defenses would react.
The Los Angeles Rams - winners of last year's Super Bowl with one of the best offenses in the league, those Los Angeles Rams - rank 31st in yards per play over the first four weeks of the 2022 NFL season.
Here we are, Week 1, things have happened. It's ok to get excited, but maybe not too carried away. Last year in Week 1 the Steelers beat the Bills in Buffalo and the Packers were blown out by the Saints with a dud of a game from the eventual league MVP.
Every year throughout training camps and the preseason, we get word that a number of running backs are getting snaps in the slot. That is then followed by reports that those teams also want to get their top two running backs on the field at the same time.
The NFL is at a tipping point of wide receiver value. We're not at a point where we're debating if wide receivers "matter" but with the cost of top-tier receiver contracts skyrocketing, better wide receivers coming into the league ready to play as rookies, and more receivers on the field in general, we've seen a line drawn between teams willing to pay a premium at the position and those that aren't.
It's always nice to have a bit of self-awareness. After a combined 23-10 record over the past two seasons and a playoff run in each of the past three, the Tennessee Titans could have pushed more chips into the middle of the table for 2022-especially in a year when all the other top contenders in the conference did so.
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor came from the coaching tree of Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, but as those two teams prepare to meet in the Super Bowl, there are not a ton of similarities between the two offenses. One commonality between the two offenses is how often they use empty formations.
In a two-high world, we're continually shifting how we talk about the value of safeties. Even now it's hard to come to an exact definition of value in the modern game. The top of the safety market has increased but at the same time, more safeties are getting playing time.
We tend to know what a quarterback is - or we have a good glimpse of what he could be - by the end of Year 2. That, historically, is when quarterbacks make the biggest leap. In the second season, we get an idea of what the likely career arc could be.
NFL free agency is upon us. As deals roll in, we'll be breaking them down here as this page will be updated with analysis and grades for all the major moves. On top of the grades, you'll get plenty of context as to why deals were made and why they do or don't make sense.
No one is blitzing this season. Per TruMedia, Mahomes is the least blitzed quarterback in the league on just 12.8% of his dropbacks. This isn't exactly new. Defenses started treating Mahomes and the Kansas City offense this way Patrick Mahomes throughout last season when teams went two-high at a wild rate in an attempt to stop explosive pass plays.
There are a few universal pressures for most 16-year-olds in the United States, usually involving some combination of heartbreak and social status, that can overtake a high schooler's scholarly and athletic ambitions. Laurie Hernandez, however, doesn't have time for any of that. She's laser-focused on representing her country in Rio as a member of the U.S.
This, right now, is the best era of gymnastics. The switch to an open-ended scoring system (move away from the 10.0) in 2006 has allowed the sport to evolve faster than it ever had before. Skills are bigger and difficulty is harder, which gives a sense that the sport is now at its peak.