The most authoritative and innovative annual guide to both the NFL and college football is back for an all-new season with more cutting-edge statistical analysis, obsessive film study, and trademark humor. Includes comprehensive coverage of all 32 NFL teams, analysis of offseason personnel changes, over 500 KUBIAK fantasy football projections, and breakdowns of the top 50 college football teams for 2018. With numerous statistical measures that go far beyond standard NFL stats, Football Outsiders Almanac 2018 gives NFL fans the kind of sabermetric-like statistical analysis that revolutionized the fan's understanding of baseball. It's also written with a knowing dry wit that gets under the skin of America's most popular spectator sport.
- Groundbreaking team and player DVOA ratings that correct for situation and opponent to reveal which offenses and defenses are truly superior, and which players really help win games.
- Exclusive data from our partners at Sports Info Solutions, unavailable in standard NFL stats, tells you which quarterbacks benefit the most from yards after catch or play best under pressure; which teams most often blitz or run specific offensive formations; and which defensive backs stop the other team's passing game, measured by pass coverage on every single play rather than just tackles.
- Data on how receivers performed based on where they lined up before the snap: wide, tight, in the slot, or in the backfield.
- Detailed information on each team's performance in 2017 by offensive and defensive personnel package.
- Detailed individual stats for offensive linemen and defensive players.
- Extensive coverage of all 32 teams with week-by-week stats from the 2017 season, five-year performance trends, and analysis of off-season personnel changes.
- Exclusive 2018 predictions that give the odds on each team as a Super Bowl contender ... or a contender for the top pick in the 2019 draft.
- 2018 fantasy football projections for more than 500 skill position players based on the KUBIAK forecasting system.
- Breakdowns on the top 50 college football teams and full win-loss projections for all 130 Division I-A (FBS) teams.
- "A book that any self-respecting NFL fan needs to purchase." -- Bill Simmons, The Ringer.com
- "Football Outsiders has now built a system that has some serious traction behind it. I personally find it fascinating." -- John Schneider, General Manager, Seattle Seahawks
- "Exhausting, enlightening, surprising in many cases, and an absolute must-read if you like the NFL. -- Peter King, NBC Sports
- "It's important for you, the working football fan, to know more about football than other football fans. The Football Outsiders Almanac will give you all the background knowledge you need to make your football-watching companions feel uninformed and inadequate." -- Drew Magary, Deadspin.com
- "Football is a nearly impossible game for even its most devout practitioners to understand. Football Outsiders is the best way I know to make it make sense." -- Will Leitch, New York Magazine
For correction on a handful of errors in the print version of the book, please go to https://www.footballoutsiders.com/files/errata2018.pdf.
Lead editor Aaron Schatz is the creator of FootballOutsiders.com and the proprietary NFL statistics within Football Outsiders Almanac, including DVOA, DYAR, adjusted line yards, and the KUBIAK fantasy football projections. He writes regularly for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine, and has done custom research for a number of NFL teams. The New York Times Magazine referred to him as "the Bill James of football." Vincent Verhei (writer, design, and layout) is an assistant editor for Football Outsiders and covers the NFL for ESPN.com Insider. He also writes about pro wrestling and MMA for Figurefouronline.com. Ben Baldwin covers the Seattle Seahawks for The Athletic. Ian Boyd covers college football for Inside Texas and SB Nation's Football Study Hall. Tom Gower is a writer at Football Outsiders. Scott Kacsmar is an assistant editor for Football Outsiders and covers the NFL for ESPN.com Insider. Derrik Klassen is a writer at Football Outsiders and has written for Optimum Scouting, SB Nation, and Bleacher Report. Bryan Knowles has covered the NFL for Football Outsiders, Bleacher Report, and Fansided. Rivers McCown has written about the NFL for Vice Sports, Deadspin, Bleacher Report, ESPN.com, and Football Outsiders. Charles McDonald is an NFL reporter for Bleacher Report and hosts the Setting The Edge podcast. Chad Peltier writes regularly about college football for Football Outsiders and the SB Nation blogs Football Study Hall and Land Grant Holy Land. Andrew Potter is a writer and editor at Football Outsiders. Mike Tanier is lead NFL writer for Bleacher Report and is the author of "The Philly Fan's Code." Robert Weintraub has contributed to Sports on Earth, Slate, and Grantland, and is the author of the New York Times bestseller "No Better Friend: One Man, One Dog, and their Extraordinary Story of Courage and Survival in WWII." Carl Yedor is a writer at Football Outsiders. Bill Connelly (NCAA statistics) writes for Football Outsiders and covers college football for SB Nation at FootballStudyHall.com. Brian Fremeau (NCAA statistics) writes for Football Outsiders and ESPN.com Insider.
