The Browns and assistant general manager Eliot Wolf parted ways today, and in related news, Wolf’s father had some harsh criticism for the Browns’ analytics-heavy approach to building their team.
Ron Wolf, the Hall of Fame former General Manager of the Packers, told Chris Mortensen of ESPN that he disdains the way analytics have affected both football and baseball. Wolf said the Browns and other teams that embrace analytics are “out of control.”
“When something goes wrong, who takes responsibility?” Wolf said. “Their answer: ‘Well, that’s what the data told us.’ What a crock. That’s what got ‘em 1-31.”
Ron Wolf certainly has an old-school approach to the game, and it served him well during his tenure in the NFL, which spanned most of the second half of the 20th Century. But in the 21st Century, analytics are an increasingly important part of the NFL. The Browns’ failures don’t negate that.