So I was clicking around in the Youtube vortex and came upon an interview with Ty Siam that was posted last week. It was for the PFHOF and really meant to be an interview with someone who has a different type of job in pro football for college students looking to break into sports.
The focus on this session was data analytics so they brought in Ty for an interview. It's an hour long, but you can skip around, but he talks about how he started his job with the Giants 5 years ago after a chance meeting with Kevin Abrams. I know we joke about Gettleman & the "computer people", but Ty talks about the team he's building, their technical skills and how they are working within the organization. He came from Deliotte (as someone who started his career at KPMG moons ago, large consulting firms can eventually land you a job anywhere so I can see it).
It really looks like Ty's team has taken on the role as the technical coordinators across the entire organization and provide data analytics on the football side for front office, coaches, scouts, training staff, etc. But he mentioned that his team plays a role in this draft process where they compile all the information available on prospects and sit in the room with the scouts and coaches & have input on the picks.
He's also been working on building out data models to assist in game plans that they are working with Judge on to use in game situations, per the asks from Judge. He noted that with the Next Gen stats, teams are constantly using that information to assist in game planning and it sounds like the next breakthrough is to get similar technology in place in the college ranks so they can go beyond the basic info they have from game stats, pro day workouts, etc and align them with what they are using in the pros to better evaluate players.
He also said the other leagues are ahead of the NFL and he's been using their experiences to help in shaping what he's doing. I'm speculating on my own, but I know the Yankees have the largest analytics department in MLB, and analytics pretty much runs baseball at this point, so I'd wonder if Ty has made a trip over to Yankee Stadium at some point to talk with those guys.
Anyway, he also solved one mystery at last year's draft. When Gettleman was wearing his mask for the picks, it was Ty who was at his home to make sure that all the technical set ups were working and was there in support, so he was the IT guy to make sure that Gettleman was good. Anyway, it's worth a listen to pick through and see that the Giants are taking this more seriously and looking to further build out their data team of technical people who can work with the traditional football departments and be a piece of that puzzle. So if you are a data scientist who knows SQL, R, or Python, send in your resume!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAMDkXBl10g - (
New Window )
and off course the Giants are in the dark ages and know nothing about analytics -- lol