Longtime Pro Football Focus (PFF) staffers Steve Palazzolo and Sam Monson have announced they are leaving the company and are launching a new podcast with The 33rd Team called Check The Mic. Both made the announcement via their social media.
“After almost 13 years, I’m leaving PFF,” Palazzolo wrote. “Sam Monson and I are excited to have a new opportunity to start a podcast with The 33rd Team and we hope you’ll join us in our new home (same show, different home). It’s a bittersweet day as I’ve been privileged to see PFF grow from a hobby to a football powerhouse that is used by every major pro and college football team.
“There are so many current and former teammates to thank, and we will be able to properly honor them on the PFF NFL Podcast over the next two weeks. Special thanks to Neil Hornsby for having the passion to dream up PFF and to Cris Collinsworth for taking us to the next level back in 2014. Thanks to Sam Monson for being my podcast partner for the better part of 10 years – we are constantly amazed at the group of viewers and listeners who have joined us on this journey. Thanks to everyone who has helped PFF grow. I’ll always be a believer in PFF and what it meant to the game of football.”
As long as Palazzolo had been at PFF, Monson had been there even longer.
“After 17 years, I am leaving PFF,” he said. “Steve Palazzolo and I will be leaving to podcast at The 33rd Team. Welcome in to the Check the Mic Podcast! I’m incredibly proud of what we built at PFF. I was lucky enough to be one of the first people in the door and it went from virtually nothing to a resource used by all 32 NFL teams, all FBS football programs, and countless other places as well. The original core team took this thing from basically a money-pit hobby into THE pre-eminent football analytics company on earth.
“There have been so many people along the way who were a huge part of that, and too many to even begin to thank. Perhaps the biggest thanks is owed to Neil Hornsby, for having the idea for PFF and also picking all of the original team off an NFL message board to come on and help him with it. Without that opportunity, I have no idea where I would be now.
“As for the podcast, we started that from scratch over a decade ago and have built an incredible audience of loyal listeners and viewers who give us the opportunity to do this for a living. That audience has also helped us raise thousands of dollars for good causes and will hopefully follow us to our new home and continue to support us. To more years of having fun creating NFL content!”
