Analytics have had a presence in the game of football for quite some time now. While some see the positives in analytics aiding some decisions made by NFL teams, former Denver Broncos offensive lineman and current Fox NFL color analyst Mark Schlereth sees it as total nonsense.

During an appearance on Dan Dakich’s podcast, Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich, Schlereth aired his grievances with analytics, sharing several examples of why analytics analysts don’t understand the NFL’s inner workings and how teams operate, making them incredibly flawed.

“The analytics people become gospel,” said Schlereth. “You can take those numbers and make them say whatever you want. And the average fan thinks that becomes gospel. They don’t understand how the game works. So, this is a way that you can basically go, ‘Okay, let me put my thumbprint on this.’ You know, the air-yards per target, or whatever bullsh*t they are feeding you as an analytics, number-crunching nerd.

One example in particular shared by Schlereth was the argument that teams should go for two-point conversions every time they score a touchdown. The only problem with this, according to Schlereth, is that teams simply don’t script enough two-point conversion plays for that to be viable.

“I got into an argument with a guy who was extolling the virtues of going for two points every time. Get up and line up and run a two-point play. You have heard these nerds talk about this. And so, I asked the guy, ‘How many two-point plays do you think we go into any given game plan with?’ We go in with two any given week. One we like, and one we kind of like. We’ll practice one of them. It’ll be one rep of that particular play against a scout team defense. And we’ll do it on Friday when we don’t have pads on.

“What do you think the confidence level in a freaking coach is in the NFL that we’re gonna go for two points every time? When we only have one play we like. The rest of the stuff, we have to run out of base formations or nickel formations, in a condensed football field where you don’t have an over-the-top play to separate defenders. You guys are freaking morons. You have no idea how the game works, you have no idea what we talk about. You have no idea how we practice. You have no idea the number of plays we have in. Or how we have run those plays, or what we are trying to exploit.”

Another example thrown out by Schlereth is the concept of using data to determine which side teams should call run plays most of the time. Schlereth noted that when a team has a player like Aaron Donald on the defensive side, the advantage of having a stronger run defense becomes a disadvantage.

“One of them I get is, ‘Hey man, you average almost a yard per carry more to the left than you do to the right. So you should run it 65 percent of the time to the left and only 35 percent of the time to the right.’ Yeah, well, Aaron Donald lines up on the left,” said Schlereth. “So up your *ss, we’re not running over there because that guy is gonna destroy us. The analytics don’t mean anything in football. It’s just a bunch of fluff to make us feel important. Like, we as “analytics analysts” really know what we are talking about.”

Ultimately, there are very few who will argue with Schlereth that analytics are all that matters. But to completely write them off seems foolish.

According to a 2024 survey from ESPN’s Seth Walder, which received feedback from 22 teams around the league, the Philadelphia Eagles, last year’s Super Bowl champions, were among the top analytics users in the league. On the flip side, the Cleveland Browns were at the very top of that list, which shows that analytics are not the be-all end-all solution.

Whether you agree with Schlereth about analytics not having a place in football or not, it’s far from shocking to see him going off on the topic, as he has been very anti-analytics for quite some time.