I was well aware of my limitations as a football player and knew that I needed every edge I could possibly get in order to compete. A big part of that was to be as precise as I could and make as few mistakes as possible because I figured that was the only way I could survive.

Paul DePodesta

If you have to remind people you're the boss, I don't think you're going to be a very effective leader.

Paul DePodesta

Moneyball' doesn't have anything to do with on-base percentage or statistics. It's a constant investigation of stagnant systems, to see if you can find value where it isn't readily apparent.

Paul DePodesta

Circumstances change and you have to be proactive about changing with those circumstances.

Paul DePodesta

Look, I loved working in baseball.

Paul DePodesta

In a given year, there may be two or three NFL-ready quarterbacks at the college level. In another year, there literally may be zero.

Paul DePodesta

There aren't 32 of them in the world that I think can be quarterbacks of Super Bowl champion teams. Supply is short.

Paul DePodesta

In disciplines as disparate as baseball, financial services, trucking and retail, people are realizing the power of data to help make better decisions.

Paul DePodesta

If I play my home games in Coors Field, I'm probably not going to be doing a whole lot of bunting. If I play my home games in Petco Park or Dodger Stadium, it's probably going to be a more valuable tool.

Paul DePodesta

Analytics is not about sitting behind a computer and pushing enter and having it produce an answer.

Paul DePodesta

The A's were a team with very few resources. We didn't have access to players who were obviously great, who could do it all and were always in the headlines. We couldn't afford those types of players. So we had to figure out a way of cobbling together players into a team that might be competitive.

Paul DePodesta

I played football in college and what I really wanted to do was be a football coach.

Paul DePodesta

The nice thing about baseball is that all of the possible outcomes are known - it's not quite as messy as the real world. That makes the game an excellent playground for probability.

Paul DePodesta

Baseball ultimately is a drama without a script. It's the original reality TV.

Paul DePodesta

Whether baseball or football, we're tasked in front offices with making decisions under uncertainty. How do you corral that uncertainty in a way to make more consistently better decisions? That's very similar.

Paul DePodesta

I really focus on process as much as anything else: process for how we evaluate players, process for how we make decisions, process even for how we hire people internally, process for how we go about integrating our scouting reports with guys watching tape in the office.

Paul DePodesta

I got into baseball, and everyone just started calling me a geek, like, 'There's the nerd from Harvard.' Then it took 20 years of working in baseball and me actually leaving and going to football for people to say, 'He's the baseball guy.' So maybe at some point I'll be known as a football guy too.

Paul DePodesta

Admittedly, there will be an awful lot for me to learn, but I want nothing more than to help bring consistent, championship caliber football back to Cleveland.

Paul DePodesta

Cleveland and football have always held a special place in my heart.

Paul DePodesta

Medicine is so big and so important.

Paul DePodesta

It's up to a manager to understand his players.

Paul DePodesta