According to Joe Person, the Carolina Panthers are set to hire SumerSports vice president Eric Eager in an ambiguous “analytics role.” Eager previously worked for Pro Football Focus, the somewhat divisive football analytics website. PFF is often simultaneously praised and criticized for their player grades after each game, but the popularity of their advanced statistics cannot be argued.
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Eager has a PhD in mathematical biology (yes, that’s a real thing apparently) from Nebraska, so he definitely has the mathematical background for this analytical role. As far as his football experience goes, he played Division II football at Minnesota State-Moorhead. His journey has seen him transition from a tenured Mathematics professor to now an analytics guy for an NFL team, which is a story that sounds like a Hollywood special.
Since purchasing the Panthers in 2018, David Tepper has constantly lauded analytics and desperately tried to inject them into his franchise. He has even gone so far as bringing up the analytics regarding specific play calls with previous coaches. With this hire, Tepper continues to show growth as an owner. He has been consistently more hands-off, allowing the “football guys” like Dan Morgan and Brandt Tillis to do their thing. Hopefully Tepper now allows his shiny new “analytics guy” to do his.
