Wide Left: A Change

We're announcing changes to Wide Left to find a way to give readers more!

Long story short: there are changes coming to Wide Left, which will mean more content that is more neatly organized.

I’m bringing on several new writers to contribute on a more regular schedule as well as people on the back end to help with story development, editing and so on.

At the moment, we’re splitting the newsletter into three written content verticals: Lead Dive for NFL content, Two Gap for college- and draft-related content and Outside Zone for cultural and political commentary.

This organization allows readers to opt into or out of verticals that they want to receive emails for and neatly organizes the writing to make it easier to find. Wide Left will still feature pieces from all three verticals on the front page.

Previous pieces will be rehomed into the appropriate vertical, again to make things a bit easier to find and understand.

By the way, readers can opt in and out of specific verticals. Just go to your account settings and click through to the settings specific to Wide Left.

So, let’s talk about it.

Why Do This?

In the past, I’ve discussed the worrisome possibility that readers of subscription sports content would be confronted with the same problem that now faces them with streaming television – initially, Netflix was cheaper than cable television with a DVR package and viewers cut the cord or supplemented low-level live television plans with Netflix.

This was an outstanding deal for consumers, who could access a back catalog of nearly every popular television show that had been produced for the past several decades and get fairly quick updates for shows that were still airing.

The owners of the intellectual property that had sold (or rather, leased) their shows to Netflix figured this out and they eventually pulled back their shows at the end of those leases to host them on their own platforms.

That’s how we went from Netflix to Netflix and Hulu and HBO Max (now Max for some reason?) to Netflix and Hulu and Max and Peacock and Paramount+ and Disney+ and Discovery+ and Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV and more.

While this approach makes sense for independent, non-legacy networks that produce their own content – Nebula/Curiosity Stream and Dropout come to mind – it’s a bit jarring for legacy content.

The fragmentation of all of that streaming content follows a certain logic for the individual rights holders but was a pretty raw deal for consumers, who now have to pay more in inflation-adjusted terms to access the back catalogs of those shows than they did for cable. This Tragedy of the Commons game theory problem is consistent across different industries.

I hope you see where I’m going with this; subscription sports written content was not particularly fragmented at the onset. Very few outlets would provide a breadth of coverage for a low price, and it was high-quality stuff.

Those same outlets still provide high-quality coverage, but there is less of it and the impressive spread of teams and localities you’d find with just one subscription package no longer exists in the same way.

At the same time those outlets, along with those that provided ad-supported or otherwise free written content, let go of a bevy of talented writers.

Some of those writers left the industry, many were hired by other spaces and others started newsletters. There are a lot of sports newsletters out there, many of them great. They are successful for a reason – a lot of them provide niche, laser-focused content on the kind of stuff readers are willing to pay for.

I should know, I spend more than $100 a month on football newsletters, an additional $44 on newsletters covering other sports and $90 on newsletters outside of sports.

I’m not confident that others, who don’t have as obvious a business reason to read that many newsletters, are willing to make the same investment.

Bringing writers in to the site to increase the site’s content is a way to get ahead of that problem and offers more to football fans.

I know some readers have been frustrated at the content schedule; Wide Left, during the season, only produces two or three articles a week. This should help solve that problem without impacting the quality of the work.

Will the Subscription Price Change?

The plan, down the road, will be to increase the price of a subscription to Wide Left. Price changes won’t happen this month or next month, but will soon after.

I want to be as transparent as I can be about how pricing is determined and I don’t think it’s ethical or a good business practice to quietly change the price of a recurring subscription.

After keeping the price the same for two years, it was always in the plan to consider increasing the subscription price – not because of anything in the news cycle that points to economic volatility or price shocks but because of the natural cycle of inflation.

But now that we’re bringing more writers on and are intent on producing much more content, it seems prudent to move forward with that plan.

Giving people a heads up also gives them an opportunity to lock in an annual subscription at the current price – already discounted from the monthly subscription – before the price of the annual subscription increases alongside the monthly subscription.

In the spirit of honesty, it is also important to me to disclose that Wide Left does not have a universal policy to reject sponsorship or partnership opportunities.

But, as it stands, there has only been one and it hasn’t resulted in any revenue; Pro-Football-Reference merely provides me with a subscription in return for linking to their player pages and occasionally promoting their site – something I was already doing without compensation.

The ethical standards for partnership, however, are high. I’ve turned down lucrative sponsorships from companies that either required disparagement clauses or have a history of unethical business practices.

So, you may see ads in the future. That isn’t a shift in policy, but I disclose this now so that people enter into a subscription with the understanding that it does not insulate them entirely from ads – as much as I wish it were so.

Who Are These People?

I’m bringing on five new people, many of whom will contribute as writers and some of whom may do more. Alex Katson has agreed to join on as Chief Operating Officer and Devin Jackson is the Chief of Content. Dante Collinelli will be our chief editor. We’ve also added Ben Glassmire and James Foster as writers. Who are they?

Ben Glassmire

Ben began his football writing career at 16 years old with any website that would allow him a platform. After stumbling across Draft Twitter, Ben began his descent into the world of scouting and established himself as an analyst focused on film-driven breakdowns of players entering the NFL Draft. His previous experience includes time at USA Today covering the Dallas Cowboys and later covering his alma mater, the Washington Huskies for UW Huskies Wire. Additionally, Ben has consulted for multiple NFL agencies, working to identify undervalued players from former PAC-12 and Mountain West schools.

James Foster

James Foster is an NFL writer who creates film-based analysis of the NFL and NFL Draft. He blends tape study and analytics to help fans understand the game and is particularly passionate about highlighting under-appreciated positions and players. He began his career on YouTube and has produced video and written content for The 33rd Team and A to Z Sports. He also writes about the Titans for Paul Kuharsky.

Dante Collinelli

Dante began his career covering the NFL Draft for Blue Chip Scouting in 2019 while attending Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. There, he earned a journalism degree and spent four years covering the Temple Football team, which somehow included covering four different head coaches. For the past three years, Dante served as the Deputy Editor for The 33rd Team, working with former players, coaches, and general managers, while building a team of NFL writers. He also covers the Miami Dolphins for Dolphins on SI.

Devin Jackson

Devin joins Wide Left as an established journalist who has been in the business since 2019. While his specialty is covering the NFL Draft, having done so since 2020, he’s worked in television and print, first as a digital content editor and multimedia journalist, a sports digital editor for Nola.com, covering sports betting for the Philadelphia Inquirer before getting promoted to sports editor. He has a passion for storytelling and college football as a former player, and has covered predraft events since the 2023 draft cycle.

Alex Katson

Before being named COO in May 2025, Alex Katson wrote two freelance pieces for Wide Left - The Loneliness of the Left-Footed Kicker and What's Wrong With Pro Day Reporting? Those pieces came on the heels of Katson's introduction to a broader national audience with a December 2024 analysis of the on-field reasons for former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker's precipitous decline, published on SB Nation. Katson also covers the Los Angeles Chargers and Washington Huskies for USA Today.

A compulsive list-maker since childhood, Katson is best known for his collection of football-related spreadsheets, which cover a wide variety of topics from the college football transfer portal, NFL pro day results, and NFL Draft declarations. Considered the premier authority for football information on the internet, Katson's spreadsheets - housed on his personal Patreon - have been used by multiple NFL teams, college football programs, and major agencies and media outlets.