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The Read Optional

Oliver Connolly, Jon Ledyard
Hundreds of paid subscribers

Smart Football. Explaining Why. NFL Newsletter and Podcast.

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PricingFreemiumPublishesDaily
Issues479Founded5 years agoLast Issue6 days ago
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Latest Issues

Subscriber Q&A: Hall of Fame Snubs, Chicago's defense, 12 personnel and more

Answering your questions on the league's next schematic evolutions, who should be in the HOF and more

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A 2022 Draft Retrospective

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You asked, we’ve answered. Jon and I open up our archives to look back at the 2022 NFL Draft class. We discuss our initial evaluations, how we’ve each evolved...

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Evaluating & Tiering Every NFC Team's 2026 Draft Class

How 'bout them Cowboys?

Jon & I wrap up our draft coverage by evaluating and tiering every team’s class. We finish up with the NFC, discussing why the best organizations disappointed, why we differ on the value of a couple of classes, the...

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Evaluating & Tiering Every AFC Team's 2026 Draft Class

Here comes Mendoza!

Jon & I wrap up our draft coverage by evaluating and tiering every team’s haul. First up, it’s the AFC. What did we like? What didn’t we like? What was confusing? What are the best scheme fits? Who are the later round g...

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2026 NFL Draft Live: Day Three

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18 days ago
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Authors

The writers behind this newsletter.

  • Oliver Connolly

    Sport & Culture writer. Currently: The Guardian / Free agent for hire. Previously: NFL/CFB Scout, recruiting analyst, X's & O's writer/nerd

  • Jon Ledyard

    Longtime NFL/NFL Draft analyst covering the game independently. Player evaluation, scheme understanding, game tape study, advanced stats and analytics matter. Use them all.

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