The 33rd Team company continues to change, and its latest changes have many writers on their way out earlier than expected. To start with, what is fully known is that writers Dan Pizzuta, Tyler Brooke, and James Foster all posted Sunday about their contracts ending early, with the first two saying that’s effective as of the end of March and Foster saying his will end after this year’s NFL Draft (which will take place April 24-26):
Some sad news to share this morning.
My contract with The 33rd Team will be terminated early, at the end of March.
I cannot thank you all enough for the support. This season was, without question, the most creatively rewarding year of my career.
— Tyler Brooke (@TylerDBrooke) February 23, 2025
A late addition to this list: me.
I’m going to be a free agent at the end of March.
Thankful and appreciative of my time at The 33rd Team. Excited and hopeful for what’s next. https://t.co/pdgUhEkfTY
— Dan Pizzuta (@DanPizzuta) February 23, 2025
Sad to announce that my contract with The 33rd Team will end after the draft. My DMs are open if anyone’s looking for NFL/draft coverage!
— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) February 23, 2025
Update: Writers Marcus Mosher and Kyle Crabbs have also noted their upcoming exits:
My contract at the @The33rdTeamFB is also set to expire in the next few months.
Loved working with my guys @ikenyonFB and @DanteCollinelli.
DMs are open if anyone is looking for NFL coverage.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) February 23, 2025
I’ve been informed that after the Draft in April, my contract with The 33rd Team will not be renewed.
I am extremely proud of this season’s work leading their NFL Draft coverage and tackling this year’s class.
I’m thankful for the opportunity & ready for whatever one is next!
— Kyle Crabbs (@KyleCrabbs) February 23, 2025
Update, Feb. 24: Editor-in-chief Ian Kenyon also noted his exit:
I have some personal news pic.twitter.com/0WFfCUyrNF
— Ian Kenyon (@ikenyonFB) February 24, 2025
As did deputy editor Dante Collinelli:
Had to collect my thoughts a bit, but I have some unfortunate personal news to share, too: pic.twitter.com/yoiG7mcekg
— Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) February 24, 2025
Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported that there are expected to be “8-10” non-renewals of contracts for people who work on the website, and that the public-facing content side of the site may or may not exist in some capacity, but that approach might change to a paywall. Glasspiegel added that this is so the company can focus resources elsewhere.
A number of jobs at The 33rd Team website are being eliminated as the NFL-focused company will center its resources on other aspects of the business, Front Office Sports has confirmed.
About 8-10 employees who work on the website will not have their contracts renewed, one source said. …The site may still exist in some capacity, and could be paywalled in the future, a source close to the situation said.
NFL reporter Arif Hasan of Wide Left also posted to X about this. He said this looks like a wider cut from what he’s hearing, first saying the site would eliminate the entire content division in favor of focusing on their consulting business, then clarifying that to “written content”:
Written content*
— Arif Hasan, but NFL 🏈 (@ArifHasanNFL) February 23, 2025
Update: Awful Announcing has confirmed that the cuts here are focused on the written side of the site, and that the plan is for the site to still feature written content but the specific approach there (possibly including a paywall) is not yet finalized. AA has also confirmed that there are no plans to cut audio or video content at this time, and that this is about redistributing resources towards The 33rd Team’s other operations, including data-focused work and business-to-business consulting work. The site posted about that on LinkedIn Sunday night:
Per the people who have publicly said they’re leaving so far, most had been there a year to two years. Kenyon had been there since October 2022, serving as deputy managing editor and editorial director before he was named editor-in-chief last June. Collinelli had been there since June 2022.
All have worked in football media at a variety of outlets. Pizzuta’s past work includes numberFire, SB Nation, and Sharp Football Analysis, while Brooke continues to work at Yahoo Sports and has worked at The Sporting News and Heavy. Mosher continues to work at LockedOn and USA Today Sports Media Group, Crabbs continues to work at LockedOn and also worked at The Draft Network, and Foster previously worked at A to Z Sports. Kenyon previously worked at Bleacher Report from 2012-22, and Collinelli continues to work at FanNation and has worked at Yahoo, Blue Chip Scouting, and The Temple News.
Kenyon and Collinelli expressed support for the leaving writers with retweets and original posts. Here are some of their original posts on exiting writers:
Tyler’s great. Whoever lands him next is getting a good one. https://t.co/tBpl8h7s0v
— Ian Kenyon (@ikenyonFB) February 23, 2025
Dan’s in-depth analysis of the league is second to none. Some truly outstanding work. https://t.co/N4EdvXSIiq
— Ian Kenyon (@ikenyonFB) February 23, 2025
James is an incredibly talented analyst with a bright future. Whoever scoops him up won’t regret it. https://t.co/f2XKZYRYax
— Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) February 23, 2025
Working with Kyle this season was one of the best experiences of my career. He’s a consummate professional and has a great football mind.
I’ll also be forever grateful for him letting me follow him around in Mobile, including an emergency Target run when United lost my bag. https://t.co/7LGT8BXku4
— Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) February 23, 2025
On the consulting front, that has been a big focus for The 33rd Team lately. And they’ve landed high-profile clients there with the University of Washington and the New York Jets. Hasan’s clarification of “written” content is also important, as the site has quite a bit of prominent video and audio content, and just made a splashy addition of Pro Football Focus vets Sam Monson and Steve Palazzolo last fall. The clarification of “written” would suggest at least some of those shows would continue. But getting rid of written content would be a major change for The 33rd Team.
Of course, there have been many changes at that site over time. The 33rd Team was officially launched by former NFL executives Mike Tannenbaum (currently also an ESPN NFL analyst) and Joe Banner in 2021 following a 2020 soft launch. And it’s featured a lot of notable people at the executive level, including Tony Petitti as co-CEO before he got the Big Ten commissioner job.
We’ll see where The 33rd Team goes from here. But it’s certainly notable to see many prominent writers publicly exiting, and to see discussion of wider cuts that could possibly impact the whole written content side. If that is indeed what’s happening, The 33rd Team would be far from the first site to pivot away from written content, but it would certainly be notable to see them also exit that space.
