Former Packers GM and Father of Eliot Wolf Rips Browns for Embracing Analytics
By Evan Wolff
It has become increasingly clear that refusing to take advantage of analytics in modern sports is choosing to ignore an advantage that can help secure victories. Freddie Kitchens infamously bragged that he "doesn't look at the stats", as his response to whether he uses analytics advantageously. The Cleveland Browns finished 6-10 this year, and Kitchens was promptly fired after the season ended.
Another casualty of the Browns failures was assistant General Manager Eliot Wolf, who was relieved of his duties on Wednesday as part of a major organizational overhaul. As a result of that firing, Eliot's father, NFL Hall of Famer and former Packers GM Ron Wolf, chose Wednesday to criticize the increased use of analytics in the NFL.
The #Browns parted ways with assistant GM Eliot Wolf today.
— Sportsnaut (@Sportsnaut) January 29, 2020
Coincidentally, former #Packers GM Ron Wolf, Eliot's dad, just ripped the @Browns and other #NFL teams for their embrace for analytics.https://t.co/aXlASvbdwt
This is very clearly another close-minded moment from a former member of a league that just isn't the same as it used to be. To use data and statistics is to be a properly functioning professional football team in today's NFL, and to see it any other way is quite simply wrong.
As Eliot Wolf leaves the Browns, Ron Wolf blasts “out of control” analytics https://t.co/4jPkqPDslx
— Fantasy Sports News (@fantasysportsso) January 29, 2020
It's understandable to stick up for a family member who just got fired from his job. What can't be explained is the constant need to bash analytics, when it is the future of all sports, not just the NFL.