Cleveland Browns: Analytics is different from moneyball

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Jun 7, 2016; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson yells to the team during minicamp at the Cleveland Browns training facility. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

The Browns are not doing Moneyball. The Browns have done nothing this offseason to suggest they are applying a Moneyball approach to their roster.

There is no identifiable market inefficiency that can be gleaned from the free agents the Browns let go or from any that the Browns have signed. The Browns are not banking on the idea that there are undervalued free agents on the market. The difficulty of identifying players with market inefficiency is first identifying a player’s scheme fit on the market. The free agent must first fit the scheme before one can identify if the market of overlooking them. This is a second level problem that baseball markets do not encounter.

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Unlike baseball, football is not only a complex matrix of interaction from whistle to whistle, football also has a secondary abstract level in which coaches shine as the star. The coaches determine the scheme or plan of attack for each given team. Each plan of attack is in itself complex, requiring very specific types of players.

For example, a 3-4 defense requires players with completely different shapes, sizes and skill sets than a 4-3 defense. Any foray into the free agent market is already limited by scheme. Any Moneyball approach to football would have to identify any market inefficiencies in, for example the available 3-4 scheme fit players. This reduction of the field makes such an approach tenuous.

The Browns have shown nothing to suggest they are taking a Moneyball approach. In fact, the opposite seems to be occurring. Personnel decisions can be attributed to effective salary cap management and scheme fit for head coach Hue Jackson‘s offense and defensive coordinator Ray Horton‘s defense.

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This is not to say the Browns are taking a traditional approach. No, the Browns are taking an analytic approach to organizational structure, strategy and team building. However, the Cleveland Browns are not playing Moneyball.

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