Is It Possible to Judge Individual Talent in the NFL?

Counterpoints: The Sports Analytics Podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review

When the Patriots and the Rams take the field on Sunday, February 3, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for Super Bowl 53, both teams will be there on the backs of several players few expected to become as important as they are — and in spite of several others who failed to meet expectations. Or so Cade Massey would have us believe. Massey is a professor of the practice at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and the co-host of “Wharton Moneyball” on SiriusXM Business Radio. He argues that it’s [damn near] impossible to judge individual talent in football. We invited Cade to defend this thesis.