The Cowboys hired Nick Fullerton and Vincent Etherton as Strategic Football Fellows. Fullerton previously worked as an NFL Next Gen Stats research analyst. Etherton was a data analytics assistant for Princeton football while a student there.

49ers Football R&D Analyst Meredith Manley is no longer with the team after opting to leave at the conclusion of her contract, source confirms. Manley had been with the 49ers since 2022 and worked for the Arizona Cardinals before that.

Titans Director of Football Research and Development Sarah Bailey is out, per source. The Titans hired Bailey from the Rams in 2023. Tennessee recently promoted Bryce Wasserman to Football Counsel/Head of Football Research.

Our NFL Draft Simulator has flipped over to 2027. Jeremiah Smith, Arch Manning, Dante Moore and three Jets first-round picks. espnanalytics.com/draft-sim/

The Cowboys hired Sathya Balakumar as a Football Data Engineer, per source. Balakumar had been a software engineer for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

The Ravens recently hired Kenan Clarke and Eliana DeTata as Coaching Analytics Fellows, per source. Clarke previously worked for the Raiders. DeTata was previously a football analyst as a student at Michigan.

The Colts hired Sam Swift as a Football Data Analyst. Swift previously interned for the Bills and most recently was a recruiting assistant at the University of Iowa while a grad student there.

Our engineer Ben Tiemeyer has been in the lab and cooked up this very nice NBA Draft lottery simulator that updates the odds after each pick. Plus, it let's you roll the draft order you just simulated right into a draft simulation! espnanalytics.com/nba-draft-lo...

Sometimes it’s hard to know if a selection is an “actual” reach or if the league was simply higher on the player than the outside world realized. So for these six players, I asked!

I asked 5 front office members about where these players were selected. Keylan Rutledge Jadarian Price De'Zhaun Stribling Nate Boerkircher Marlin Klein Caleb Douglas Were they: A. Not a reach. League liked them more than outside. B. Light reach C. True reach. Most teams had not in same ballpark.

47% of Texans users in our draft simulator took Kayden McDonald at pick No. 28. 47%!!!!!!!!!!!

We'll see what the reaction is from the rest of the league but by the Draft Day Predictor Stribling is a huge reach at 33. His median selection point was pick No. 105.

Wow, Caleb Banks at No. 18 -- Draft Day Predictor gave him just an 18% chance to be selected in the first round at all entering tonight.

Who will be available at pick No. 23 (Eagles)? Live update from the Draft Day Predictor through Pick 15:

Entering tonight, the Draft Day Predictor gave Ty Simpson a 10% chance to be selected at pick No. 13 or earlier.

At the time of pick No. 6, there was a 90% chance Mansoor Delane would make it to pick No. 9 according to the Draft Day Predictor. Even if you think that number is a little strong, that's the hidden cost of trade-ups: there's a substantial chance the Chiefs gave up a 3 and a 5 for nothing!

I did sort of always feel like at some point people would remember taking a running back in the top 5 is a terrible idea but, well

Reminder that the Draft Day Predictor will update its probabilities LIVE as picks come in! espnanalytics.com/draft-predic...

62% of Jets users picking at No. 2 selected Arvell Reese over the last seven days in our draft simulator. www.espnanalytics.com/draft-sim-re...

Small project: Spent some time over the last week seeing if I could create a wide receiver model that incorporated data from Telemetry sports that could better predict a player’s yards per route run in a player’s first four years than the draft itself.

Draft sim has been updated following final mocks! GET YOUR LAST DRAFT SIMS IN BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE espnanalytics.com/draft-sim/

This is a year-old chart from Ben Baldwin on twitter, but sharing because it's such an important chart. It demonstrates the league does not sufficiently bake in positional value in the draft. If it did, those lines would all be roughly the same.

Draft Day Predictor has undergone its final pre-draft update! It will also be updating LIVE during the draft. espnanalytics.com/draft-predic...

I think lots of teams should try to do this every year. The market values this year > next year but there's no real reason to do so. If I'm say, Carolina, I'm calling the Saints and seeing what 2027 picks they want to offer for pick 19.

If you're not trading down you're not trying. People say it takes two to tango when it comes to trades. And that's true. But one thing I've learned is just how frequent offers are. They're not always there in early round 1. But in round 2, my understanding is there are calls for almost every pick

No single person (well technically, device) has done 1,000 drafts yet on our draft simulator. The most is 743. There's still time for you to be the 1,000 draft hero. espnanalytics.com/draft-sim/

At the bottom of the story I included a different project: I wanted to explore if play speed metrics (from Telemetry Sports) in conjunction with 40 times could help predict NFL WR speed better than 40 times alone.

A number in here that I think will be of interest to Jets fans: There is a 40% chance that at least *one of* Makai Lemon or Jordyn Tyson is available at 16.

How likely is Ty Simpson to reach the second round? How far does Dallas have to trade up to land Sonny Styles or Caleb Downs? Which receivers could be on the board for Philadelphia at 23? We turned to the Draft Day Predictor for (probabilistic) answers. www.espn.com/nfl/draft202...

ESPN's draft simulator was updated today following the latest mock drafts! And it of course also reflects the Giants having pick No. 10! espnanalytics.com/draft-sim/

I'm curious the details with guarantees on Dexter Lawrence's extension. Because simply adding a third year at $28 million, if it didn't any guarantees, would be a straight up worse contract (for him) than the one he was on. So I have to assume something else changed.

New ESPN draft simulator feature: how often users select each player at each pick! Can see here that Jets users select Makai Lemon at 16 more than anyone else, and far more often than the draft day predictor forecasts. www.espnanalytics.com/draft-sim-re...

My grades and analysis on the Dexter Lawrence deal. One team came out way, way ahead here! www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

Highest non-QB APY contracts since 2015 if we adjust for cap inflation to put everything in 2026 dollars, per OverTheCap.com. Micah Parsons (2025) $50.2M Will Anderson Jr. (2026) $50M Aidan Hutchinson (2025) $48.5M T.J. Watt (2021) $46.2M Aaron Donald (2022) $45.8M

ESPN's draft simulator and draft day predictor have been updated to reflect the latest mock drafts, including Mel Kiper Jr.'s 2-round mock today, and updated Scouts Inc. rankings! espnanalytics.com/draft-sim/ espnanalytics.com/draft-predic...

Pelton is a legend. This is great.

Board game folks: my friend Akshay made a game! It's a simple, elegant strategy game. I have played it. It's fun! And it has five days left on kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/akd...

Update on calibration of my free agency contract projection model. Feel pretty good about this!

Dug this as a means of, essentially, calibration of free agency signings

I gave out some variety of A to 10 free agent signings and six trades (for one team). These are those 16 transactions: www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

A friend of mine recently created a free season-long fantasy baseball tool. Granted, I'm biased -- but I think it's pretty great! rotohound.com It let's you import your league and has a draft assistant, trade analyzer and projected standings for your league.

Curious to see the deal with the Fields contract in this trade. My guess here would be Jets take on all the money they had guaranteed him and Fields takes a pay cut down from the remaining $10M.

This is pretty wild! Would have turned an already-bad trade for the Ravens -- regardless of what they found in the physical -- into a terrible one! Baltimore is very fortunate to have dodged this.

Initial results comparing my FA contract model's predictions to actual results for contracts OTC has so far. Model is based primarily on media rankings. Very happy with these results! A testament to @greggrosenthal.bsky.social, @profootballfocus.bsky.social, Matt Bowen and Daniel Popper, too!

We're up to 50 transactions in my free agency and trade grades story here. Including Daniel Jones and Trey Hendrickson contracts from earlier today! www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

lol

should I grade the ravens not trading two firsts for maxx crosby now

would be hilarious if the cowboys call up the packers right now and tell 'em actually we don't want rashan gary anymore

free agency grades! lots of 'em! www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

Check the Oweh and Mafe forecasts 😈😈😈