NFL: Implementing New Special Team Metrics and Ranking Special Team Players

Description of Project

We will be using National Football League (NFL) data given to us to implement new metrics for Special Teams players ,and we will be using said metrics to rank the players. Specifically we will be ranking the Specialists, a group that is comprised of punters, kickers, and long snappers. Our main objective is to evaluate and rank the performance of the Specialists to draw new insights and uncover any findings that can potentially improve team performance.

Data Source

Project Statement

A typical saying in American Football among coaches and fans alike is “All three phases”. This refers to the three phases of a football game, which are offense, defense, and special teams. Special teams' play, which includes punts, kickoffs, field goals, and extra points, play a key role in the outcome of games. Special teams are an understudied aspect of American football, and we would like to take this opportunity to better understand their influence, and draw new metrics that can contribute to a team’s success. Our main objective is to implement a new statistic that will help us evaluate and rank the performance of the players that play special teams. Using this ranking we hope to draw new insights and uncover any findings that can potentially improve team performance on the field.

OUR YOUTUBE VIDEO:

Objectives

• Understand and Implement a Project using Data Analytics Lifecycle

• Implement Data Cleaning and Pre-Processing

• Identify Different Techniques for Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

• Visualize Metrics & Performance using Tableau, Python, or R

• Drawing Conclusion & Insights by Analyzing the Results

• Create, Setup & Deploy Web Server & Page

• Showcasing the Results using Presentation Slides and Video

Introduction to Special Teams

Special Teams is an underappreciated and often overlooked part of the game of football. Having a good Special Teams unit is integral for success on the football field. Special Teams boils down to 4 different events: kickoffs, punts, field goals, and point-after attempts. Kickoffs and Punts are used for determining field position and switching possession of the ball (who is on offense). The point-after attempts and field goals are aimed at adding more points to your team's score.

Special Teams members include the previously aforementioned Specialists, and other members of the football team that (typically) do not start on offense or defense.

Tools Used

Programming: Python, R
Visualization: Python, Tableau
Data Preparation: R, Python, Excel
Video Editing: iMovie

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