Add variable for "ball handler" (rusher or receiver)

[mrcaseb]

I got this question via twitter if there is a variable or an easy way to get the "ball handler" (rusher or receiver) on a play. This would be the rushing/receiving counterpart to name and id and I see why some people could be intereted in it (epsecially fantasy guys).

I think we should add this to clean_pbp() during the next off-season.

Something like

pbp %>% 
  dplyr::mutate(
    handler = case_when(
      !is.na(rusher) ~ rusher,
      is.na(rusher) & !is.na(receiver) ~ receiver,
      TRUE ~ passer
    ),
    handler_id = case_when(
      !is.na(rusher_id) ~ rusher_id,
      is.na(rusher_id) & !is.na(receiver_id) ~ receiver_id,
      TRUE ~ passer_id
    )
  )

[guga31bb]

Putting this here so I don't forget but I think action_player is my favorite https://twitter.com/benbbaldwin/status/1358139028500062209

[guga31bb]

For discussion: do we want to use the NFL-provided ones (eg rusher_player_name and rusher_player_id) or the cleaned ones (rusher and rusher_id) for this? If this is going to be primarily used for fantasy purposes, I would think the former since that's how to calculate the official stats (because it doesn't include plays negated by penalty).

[mrcaseb]

For discussion: do we want to use the NFL-provided ones (eg rusher_player_name and rusher_player_id) or the cleaned ones (rusher and rusher_id) for this? If this is going to be primarily used for fantasy purposes, I would think the former since that's how to calculate the official stats (because it doesn't include plays negated by penalty).

I just wanted to ask this exact question. My initial idea with handler was that we do both in the same pattern. handler (including penalties) and handler_player_name excluding penalties.

I kind of like the idea of having both.

[mrcaseb]

Putting this here so I don't forget but I think action_player is my favorite https://twitter.com/benbbaldwin/status/1358139028500062209

How about carrier, carrier_id and carrier_player_name, carrier_player_id?

[guga31bb]

I think carrier makes it sound too much like rushing plays only (i.e. it's not obvious that it includes WRs on incomplete passes).

But having both sounds good to me whatever we decide on the name

[guga31bb]

Here is my current vote

      dplyr::mutate(
        fantasy_player_name = case_when(
          !is.na(.data$rusher_player_name) ~ .data$rusher_player_name,
          is.na(.data$rusher_player_name) & !is.na(.data$receiver_player_name) ~ .data$receiver_player_name,
          TRUE ~ NA_character_
        ),
        fantasy_player_id = case_when(
          !is.na(.data$rusher_player_id) ~ .data$rusher_player_id,
          is.na(.data$rusher_player_id) & !is.na(.data$receiver_player_id) ~ .data$receiver_player_id,
          TRUE ~ NA_character_
        ),
        fantasy = case_when(
          !is.na(.data$rusher) ~ .data$rusher,
          is.na(.data$rusher) & !is.na(.data$receiver) ~ .data$receiver,
          TRUE ~ NA_character_
        ),
        fantasy_id = case_when(
          !is.na(.data$rusher_id) ~ .data$rusher_id,
          is.na(.data$rusher_id) & !is.na(.data$receiver_id) ~ .data$receiver_id,
          TRUE ~ NA_character_
        )
      )

I started with action instead of fantasy but just having action itself as a column feels weird.

I think I just need to add this to clean_pbp() and add fantasy_id to the any_of in helper_decode_player_ids.R