Every year around this time I get my grubby mitts on the Football Outsiders Almanac. The tradition dates back to 2004, when I was just a nerdy middle schooler the kids called Madden. Every couple of weeks I’d find my way to the local bookstore so I could spend my allowance on something football related. I’d recently finished Jim Dent’s The Undefeated and was itching or something related to the NFL. Low and behold, a tome the size of a phonebook was sitting there, just waiting to change my world.
That’s how I happened upon the 2004 Pro Football Prospectus, the annual guide Football Outsiders began that evolved into the current Almanac.