Ryan Best
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ryanabest.bsky.social
Ryan Best
@ryanabest.bsky.social
data viz + code + design. Senior Graphics Developer, The Athletic. Before: AP, FiveThirtyEight, Bloomberg Graphics. Detroit sports. #CFC.

https://ryanabest.com/
It was the best working together there Jasmine!!
March 11, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Thanks Andy!! 🙏 🙏

Also loved your most recent newsletter, always so many gems in there.
March 4, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Huge thanks to Skye Gould and Junghye Kim for endless visual and data editing. @sandonfl.bsky.social and David DeChant were wonderful editorial collaborators. @byjohnbradford.bsky.social plugged in to fill all the gaps (as he always does). Our dev team also helped make this thing possible at all.
March 4, 2025 at 6:13 PM
It was a lot of fun working on these visualizations, the first big-swing one-off interactive graphics project our @theathletic.bsky.social graphics team has published. So much extra work was done by my team to also present quotes and conversations in a visually accessible and engaging way
March 4, 2025 at 6:11 PM
But no two coaches' histories are the same — we also visualize each and every NFL head coach and coordinator's full coaching career histories, per pro-football-reference.com.

Each coach's segment tells a story within the broader dynamics visible in the chart as a whole.
March 4, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Evidence of the NFL youth movement is strongest within offensive ranks — offensive coordinators today are (on average) a decade younger than their counterparts 20 years ago.
March 4, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Fewer coaches are spending years in college ranks before getting their shot in the NFL. Kevin Stefanski has a emblematic modern career path — starting as an NFL assistant and rising through the ranks.
March 4, 2025 at 6:09 PM
First, we plot each and every NFL head coach and coordinator by age since the 2000 season, seeing a clear drop in average age — especially amongst offensive coordinators.

You can also hover to see more info on a year, or search to see an individual coach's trajectory.
March 4, 2025 at 6:08 PM