Okay, so I wanted to mess around with some NFL stats, specifically for wide receivers (WRs). I’ve been seeing all these debates online about who the best WR is, and I figured, why not dive into the numbers myself? So, I decided to try and pull some data and see what I could find.
Finding the Data
First things first, I needed to find the data. I did a bunch of searching around, and honestly, it wasn’t as straightforward as I thought it would be. It took some digging to settle, but I can make it through eventurally.
Wrangling the Data
Once I got my hands on the data, the next step was cleaning it up. It wasn’t super messy, but it wasn’t exactly ready for analysis either. This part always takes longer than I expect. I basically did the following:
- Checked for Missing Values: I had to make sure there weren’t any gaps in the data. Sometimes players miss games, and that can mess things up.
- Filtered the data set: only filter the WR’s column.
- Consistent Formatting: Made sure all the column names were consistent and easy to work with. Stuff like making them all lowercase, replacing spaces with underscores – that kind of thing.
- Data Types: Checked that the numbers were actually being recognized as numbers, and not text. This is crucial for doing any calculations.
Doing Some Calculations
With the data all cleaned up, I could finally start playing around with it. I wanted to look at some basic stuff at first, like:
- Total Receiving Yards: The total is always important.
- Receptions: How many catches each player had.
- Average Yards Per Reception: This gives you a sense of how explosive a receiver is.
- Touchdowns: Because, you know, scoring points is kind of important.
I used some basic formulas to calculate these. Nothing too fancy, just some sums, averages.
What I Learned
I spent a good few hours on this, and it was actually pretty fun. It was a bit challenging to locate a reliable data source, but after some work, I managed to find the stats. I started playing around with the raw numbers and calculating simple things like total yards, receptions, and yards per catch. I’m planning to dig into more advanced metrics soon, but this was a great starting point. It definitely gave me a better appreciation for how much data is out there and how you can use it to form your own opinions about players.