The Minnesota Vikings have added Director of Analytics to the title of Scott Kuhn, one of the most respected members of the team’s scouting unit.
It didn’t seem like that long ago that the Minnesota Vikings were ignoring analytics. Head Coach Mike Zimmer even stated publicly on numerous occasions that sites like Pro Football Focus are much less important to a franchise than things like the ‘eye test’.
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Perhaps the team has seen the value that analytics can add to their team. Today, it was announced that the Vikings would be adding a Director of Analytics. This title was added on to the duties of scout Scott Kuhn, who has been with the organization for a decade now and already did work on analytics in the past.
According to 1500 ESPN, Minnesota hired individuals from outside sources for the analytical needs. But now this move will allow them to save money on their draft and player evaluations.
"“In February, Spielman said they took another step this offseason toward embracing the numbers, citing ‘guys a lot smarter than me’ who created different algorithms. Ones that, for instance, can level out evaluations of a cornerback from the SEC versus a player from Eastern Illinois. Prior to this year’s draft, the Vikings’ outsourced wise guys included a professor from Columbia University.”"
The National Football League is one of the last major sports to encompass analytics into its decision making. Fans may remember the popular baseball movie Moneyball which highlighted putting together a team based on analytics. While the Minnesota Vikings aren’t a Hollywood motion picture, having more information available when making decisions can only lead to better things for the franchise in the future.
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It will be interesting to see if the draft and free agent philosophies change any because of the inclusion of a Director of Analytics for the Minnesota Vikings. However, even if the team decides to continue working by the eye test, they have been doing a pretty solid job to this point so far. Having more information available can only be a good thing, right?