Scot McCloughan, The Redskins, and Analytics?

Everyone is as excited as they should be about the new Redskins hire. There are some who suggest "cautious optimism," this is after all....the Redskins. But I say screw that! I'm ready to drink the Kool-Aid!!! I have the same PTSD that every true Redskins fan suffers with. Our Kool-Aid has been spiked by Dan Snyder so often that we anticipate a hangover before we take the first sip, but this...this may just be ice cold refreshing extra sugar sweetness! Allow me to take the glass you've already been poured and fill your cup until it overflows. Drink it up and drink it deeply, allow it to help you drift  off to an even happier place. "Some place warm, a place where the [Kool-Aid] flows like wine, where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I’m talking about a little place called..." ANALYTICS!!!

Analytics are in use, at the very least, in the two most successful franchises that Scot McCloughan has been a part of, the Seahawks and the 49ers. The Redskins apparently make use of analytics, but that's probably like a giving a 3 year old the ingredients to a gourmet meal. McCloughan isn't just some type of scouting savant he also has an analytics background. Here are two articles that should make your mouth water a bit:

The 49ers team, which will play the first game in its new stadium in the heart of Silicon Valley on Sunday, relied on a data-analytics app to help with scouting for the 2014 to 2015 season -- and the team believes the technology could help it go all the way to the Super Bowl.

The 49ers worked with enterprise software giant SAP to create an HTML 5-based iOS app that can quickly analyze about 100 variables, including stats for current team members and potential recruits. The technology aggregates information the 49ers' own scouts gathered, data provided by the NFL, and information from scouting services and other third parties to help the team make better hiring decisions.

"Too much of our time, too much energy, too much of our manpower was spent collecting data manually," Ethan Waugh, head of scouting for the 49ers, said during a press event Friday at the new stadium here. "And we have a number of scouts that work remotely...[and] data that's changing constantly."

Scouts not looking at the most recent data "really caused some problems in the past," Waugh added. "We need to improve our process."

However, as this Fieldgulls' article indicates, analytics are not the end-all-be-all:

Advanced statistical analytics will never replace or supersede the simple (yet complex) act of watching tape. Game film remains the most important evaluation tool for NFL teams' personnel departments, scouting teams, and coaching staffs when it comes to the appraisal of both Draft prospects and that franchise's current players. But, at the same time, advanced analytics are making headway as a legitimate factor in team-building, team-management, and game-strategy.

As is clearly evident from the Redskins reported use of analytics, you can't just plug some numbers in and have poor decision makers making those decisions. You need both. Hopefully McCloughan will completely revamp the scouting department, but also infuse analytics throughout the organization with regards to who to draft, sign, re-sign, and cut.

Another reason to sip the Kool-Aid is the twitter rumor that Eric Waugh could replace Scott Campbell, who has been around too long with all of the incompetence that he cannot be absolved. He is a fan of analytics and efficiency:

"Too much of our time, too much energy, too much of our manpower was spent collecting data manually," Ethan Waugh, head of scouting for the 49ers, said during a press event Friday at the new stadium here. "And we have a number of scouts that work remotely...[and] data that's changing constantly."

Scouts not looking at the most recent data "really caused some problems in the past," Waugh added. "We need to improve our process."

Cautious optimism? Ha!

If you tell me that my dysfunctional step-child of an NFL team is going to behave like teams that have advanced deep into the playoffs and to the Super Bowl, then I will tell you to pour me a tall glass of that, NAY SIR.....DRAW ME A BATH of that and let the fat lady sing as she wallows in it and I sup from it as if it was the nectar of the gods!!!!