CFL partnership with PFF took years to finalize

Earlier this month, the CFL announced its partnership with Pro Football Focus.

Cris Collinsworth was ahead of the game on analytics, buying Pro Football Focus in 2014.

The Emmy Award-winning football analyst says it wasn't until 2018, however, that he really started believing in the numbers. That's when the Philadelphia Eagles routinely bucked conventional thinking and went for it on fourth down en route to winning a Super Bowl title.

"That was the Eagles' MO the whole year, they went for it when other teams didn't," Collinsworth said in a recent interview. "They understood what the odds were of not only making that four-and-four but also what happens if they kicked the ball back to Tom Brady.

"I still kind of laugh at it today because now the football purist just goes, 'Of course you go for it there on fourth-and-one.' I'm like, 'Get out of here. All of you people, none of you were doing that. Don't even act like you were.' It's fun for me to see the entire evolution."

Earlier this month, the CFL announced its partnership with Pro Football Focus. The agreement helps boost the use of analytics for the nine Canadian franchises, who all used PFF last season.

It also provides player analysis tools for media and fans.

PFF, located in Cincinnati, provides data for all 32 NFL teams as well as 102 American college football squads. Its grading system evaluates all players on every play during a game and translates data points into a grade for each player, then compares them to their peers across the league.