Would enjoy seeing historical offseasons that provide templates for teams’ upcoming offseason based on their situation.
e.g. What have teams in similar spot as Falcons (mid pick & low cap room) done that’s shown most frequent success.
Get enough of it on the radio on the television everywhere else man it just ended, the draft is going to be a week CAM Ward will go to the Giants then Dion’s kid will go somewhere probably number six and then you have Jaxson dart. And that’s where you come in.
A primer on the various concepts you talk about in your columns for football novices—fans know what mesh concepts and which gap a 3 technique tackle is lined up in, but it would be a great way to reach more casuals.
An offseason day or week in the life of an nfl player. Diet, exercise routines, how do they unwind.
A column about why it’s so hard for the most populated position on the field o-line, has such a hard time getting in the HoF.
I'd like to see every NFL roster get a GM-style analysis...looking at each position group's current talent, depth, and contract situations, and what that means they should do (IYO) in the offseason to improve/maintain
I guess this is the place to drop this - with football coaches becoming more and more comfortable with running offensive plays on 4th down, does success rate need to be re-defined? The Eagles, most notably, don't need to move the chains for a 3rd down play to be a successful one.
I’d like to see you play QB dominoes where you predict which passer goes to which team. IE Jets cut Rodgers and draft ??. Rodgers signs with Pitt who cut Fields who…???
Hi Bill - I would love to see what you think each team needs to do to improve in 2025 (draft + free agency)—additionally looking at the data to see how teams can improve on their strengths (position groups or scheme) in 2025. Same with weaknesses.
Make the season last longer by alternating conferences each week. Players get more rest between games so fitter teams are playing. No need for bye week. Twice as many viewing hrs on TV (more as revenue). More prep for long away games. Have an all star NFC v AFC game mid/start of season.
Referees are fined for mistakes, the bigger the mistake, the bigger the fine and ultimately, bad referees are retrained or fired when they perform below standards.
And gratuitous Robert Mays pods. I would listen to you two talk about dogs, clothes, unofficial uncle-ing, which unlikely animal would be best at which position, land and aquatic divisions.
Longitudinal analysis of how teams re-tool in the offseason to what effect, organized a few different ways: avg. of w/l and Pythagorean w/l [or both] for 32-17, 16-9, 8-1; age of rosters; cap space.
How much has draft position mattered since 2005?
Best GMs based on drafting, cap, and free agents.
Draft. Mel Kiper @fieldyates.bsky.social and the rest of the gang. @stephaniabell.bsky.social on her camp trips. Literally everyone in the @espn universe.
I love combine stuff. I try to folllow the combine really closely and probably only missed a couple days of workouts last year but some of the analysis of breakout players at the combine was great and helped me keep an eye out for certain guys
Analysis of what teams are choosing to do and how it may, or may not, improve their chances next season. Especially with the newer coaches, some of whom have a lot of work ahead of them.
Would love to see some deeper analysis of the skills and attributes that go into making a good play caller. Maybe a look at situations like Bobby Slowik and what common failings new OCs have, compared to others who have successfully make the jump.
What kind of drug habit has Dak been dabbling while recovering? A 30 for 30 with Jerry Jones plastic surgeon. It’s an endless black hole of questions in Dallas.. Why is Jerry so cheap? Did Jerry the GM see a running back carry the Eagles to the Super Bowl? If so, will he get one worthwhile?
Best foods at every stadium. Best stadiums for food. Which team’s fans take tailgating the most serious. Which player cooks the best. And besides food, what are these players doing for fun in the offseason with all of that money? So we can live vicariously through them..
Sophomore updates would be interesting. Guys usually get a ton of attention when they’re rookies or they’re up for a second contract. But in between is often when potential does/doesn’t become success and it goes uncovered by media because endless mock drafts are fun I guess?
A cogent rationale for ESPN ranking the Chiefs No. 1 and ranking the Eagles No. 4 heading into next season after the Eagles throttled the Chiefs on Sunday.
This is probably more suited to actual ESPN stuff but I always love your trades that make sense for every team article. Would a “FA move that makes sense…” be in the works?
Offensive line player movement and analysis on scheme fits for all offensive personnel for new players and coaches, as well as likelihood of run vs pass tendencies of new OCs
I would like to see the lunch menus in advance so I can adjust my dinner menu accordingly. I don’t like the idea of having two spaghetti meals in one day
I'd love to see a feature about coaches on new teams and how their new players will fit schematically or what schematic changes they'll need to make to maximize their performance
With all due respect, why should any NFL fan want analysis from a person who looked at the eagles 53-man roster, including the addition of Vic Fangio, and thought “I don’t see a playoff team here, in the weak ass NFC.”
I like the draft content when you say who a team should take and compare it to who you think they will take. Like when the Bengals took John Ross instead of Mahomes because we already had Andy Dalton.
I really liked the deep-dive you did on Howie Roseman before the season. It would be great if you revisited it now to examine both what we learned about Howie and what Howie might have learned.
I think the current tweet (skeet) rate is pretty good and NFL people using this site like Twitter makes for an easy transition. No need to tweet any more than usual, we just like that you’re here tweeting about the things you care about!
Since your 10K word articles don’t fit here, focus on reasonable rumors that address key needs of team (QB in Vegas, OL in Chicago, everything in NY)…. And nothing Cowboys. @rodger.bsky.social Heh heh….
Contracts reported as a percentage of the salary cap instead of by total dollar amount only. It's so much more meaningful and easier to fathom that a player is getting 20 cents of every dollar a team spends on salaries than to hear that they're making $57 million a year.
I’d love to see more diversity of news. I don’t need to hear about the repeats, the Travis Kelce will he won’t he retire. Let’s see more news about the stars of the league being good humans! Let’s get back to covering the game not the tired storylines.
Hypothetical perfect offseason for each team, 3 teams per week each week between now and the draft, with a chance for fans of each team to engage on here
Analysis of why the Lions will win the Super Bowl next year; discussion of why the Eagles win this year should have an asterisk noting that a healthy Lions team would have beaten them
Also, refresh your series from last year on rules changes and why the calendar is arbitrary
A healthy Lions team would have made it a good game, maybe. Commanders were supposed to make it a good game against the Eagles too. Oh, and Mahomes and the Chiefs? That was supposed to be a close one. Respectfully, keep that “would have won” shit to yourself because all we can know is what happened.
Analyses of the impact of trades, player movement (RB X to Team Y), coaching changes (X as new OC will possibly hurt WR Y), etc. Not that any of that would be useful in FF redraft. Thank you.
More of everything. I'm a glutton and no longer use the site that shall not be named. I just need more writers and podcasters and analysts on this site and then just give me any content you feel like making and I'll gobble it up.
I know mock drafts are not representative of individual teams draft boards, but for the players that dramatically rise up mock drafts after the season is over, is there any correlation to success/failure in the NFL?
If NFL players had to replace The Avengers and were each given their respective powers who would be each character? Current players only so Aaron Donald being given Hulk's powers can't be one. Who would be Iron Man? Cap?
How coordinator (and therefore presumed scheme) changes affect individual players.
Something like "X coordinator plays more man than the predecessor. Here are the DBs that play man better and would benefit vs. the ones that play some better and might regress"
An O-line education would be great. What it takes to put together a great line from personnel, to scheme, to coaching and anything else that matters, then look at how teams approach the building of their lines
Love your work, Bill. Is there any sort of analysis/heat map possible that shows based on: roster make-up, contracts, draft capital - who is best set-up for success each year over the next 5 years. Obvious teams that are due to struggle (eg, NO saints), but a more nuanced view would be interesting
I don’t follow college football as much as I used to (time constraints), so draft/player analysis. Since I’m a Pats fan, especially OL/DL/ILB positions.
Free agency/trade analysis (including comp picks)
Looking at new schemes/fits across the league
Grading the PFN drafts I'll be doing during meetings https://www.profootballnetwork.com/mockdraft
Be the GM for every team and make a handful of realistic moves: FA signings, let FA walk, extend contract, trade player or draft pick, fire anyone on coaching staff, make first few draft picks or be the owner and fire GM. Don’t need one from each category for every team.
Content on macro level changes/shifts you expect to see next season given what was successful this past season.
(Ex. Play call tendencies, types of players that teams might look to bring in the door, positions that teams might value less/more in free agency, etc.)
We’ve just gotten a lot of focus (rightly!) on great contending teams. I’d be intrigued at some hypothetical “path to the title” looks like for non-contenders. Experiments that need to work, organizational habits that need to change, etc.
Thank you for asking, and for your always thoughtful work!
Offseason mailbag q:
What WR has/had the worst qb luck relative to their talent? (Can be data AND anecdotally driven)
Allen Robinson comes to mind, but surely you have some thoughts.
Comments
e.g. What have teams in similar spot as Falcons (mid pick & low cap room) done that’s shown most frequent success.
A column about why it’s so hard for the most populated position on the field o-line, has such a hard time getting in the HoF.
Draft and
DRAFT
How much has draft position mattered since 2005?
Best GMs based on drafting, cap, and free agents.
Nothing and no one else matter!
Neat stuff.
Raw stuff.
Free Agency
Trade Rumors
Pictures of Belichick’s Girlfriend
Also, refresh your series from last year on rules changes and why the calendar is arbitrary
The format of it is fine, but tweak the details to force kicks to be in play. Kick it into the end zone and bring it out to the 40.
Or back up the kickoff to the 20-yard line ... or both changes.
Worst landing spots for draft picks.
Worst signings.
Worst coaching hires.
Something like "X coordinator plays more man than the predecessor. Here are the DBs that play man better and would benefit vs. the ones that play some better and might regress"
And for someone to finally explain how New Orleans does it.
Also, some love for special teams coverage.
Looking at new schemes/fits across the league
Grading the PFN drafts I'll be doing during meetings https://www.profootballnetwork.com/mockdraft
(Ex. Play call tendencies, types of players that teams might look to bring in the door, positions that teams might value less/more in free agency, etc.)
Thank you for asking, and for your always thoughtful work!
What WR has/had the worst qb luck relative to their talent? (Can be data AND anecdotally driven)
Allen Robinson comes to mind, but surely you have some thoughts.
Ben Solak+(X amounts of cocaine)=???
What if Bryce Young were Justin Herbert-sized and Justin Herbert were Bryce Young-sized
Alt NFL History: What if every team that lost a close Super Bowl won & how history changes