The email you don't want to send

Some sad news (maybe); some happy news

There are some updates you don’t want to send – and this happens to be one of them.  

I recently got offered and accepted a new job. And in order to do the new job, I’m going to have to slow down on this iteration of The Read Optional – at least for now. 

The Read Optional will live on. I cannot NOT bring myself to write about what Mike McDaniel is doing in the run game… or how Jim Schwartz has switched up his pressure packages… or the issues in Chicago… or the Justin Herbert-Kellen Moore marriage… or whatever Loudini has up his sleeve this season. 

The Home & Home podcast with Jon Ledyard will live on in some form, too. Who else is going to let me absorb 90 minutes of a two-hour conversation waffling on about how the Jags are moving their apex defender to muddy the box count?

But as I figure out the workflow with my new role, I cannot make any promises on a posting schedule. I don’t know, yet, if there will be time for two a week, one a week, or one a month. 

So as I figure that out, any posts moving forward will be free. I cannot ask subscribers to lay down hard-earned money without knowing what a monthly schedule will look like.

I want to thank everyone at Platform Media for their help over the past 18 months. There are not many media companies around these days that allow you to write 5,000+ words at your own pace about the nerdiest schematic questions and trends in the sport.  There are fewer still who are happy to forgo 1,200 words on the story of the day in favor of saying “Hey, why don’t you take 10 days to dig into the state of the RPO over 5,000 words… or look at Mike MacDonald’s sim pressure package… take your time; it’s done when it’s done”.

When I joined Platform, my side of the business had a magazine and absorbed The Read Optional. I leave it with first-of-its-kind partnerships with the NFL, the Jets, and the Niners. I’m proud of what we built. And while I now need to refamiliarize myself with the faces of my family and friends, building that has been a really cool experience.

I want to thank all of the subscribers over the past two years. Without you, this newsletter would not have existed, let alone succeeded. It’s the best job I’ve ever had. 

Now, for the administrative stuff. If you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll get refunded a prorated amount based on whatever’s left on your subscription. You don’t need to do anything. Substack’s got you, but let me know if you have any issues. If you’re not a paid subscriber, then you don’t have to do anything. The free version of the newsletter will continue to live on. 

If you received access to The Read Optional through a Gridiron subscription, there’s an update from their side on what that means for your sub here. On my end, I will honor those subscriptions whenever it is posts or podcasts return behind the paywall — meaning: if you’ve had two months of the free year so far, you will get 10 months (along with all the new Gridiron goodies) whenever those paywalled posts start back up. 

As for what’s next, I’m going to start a new job soon along with (finally) wrapping up a long-term project. I’ll reveal those new employer details whenever I’m able.

So this is not a goodbye. It’s a see you soon. And when I do (at least to begin with!) it’s going to be free. So maybe it’s not the worst update to send after all.