The site provides career statistics for players, teams, and games, as well as records and NFL draft history.

Sports Reference also publishes similar statistics websites for basketball, baseball, and hockey.

[3][4] The Pro Football Reference website and database was established by Doug Drinen in December 2000.

The purpose of this monitor is to apply a formula to quantify player contributions during their career (including All-Pro selections, Pro Bowl selections, various awards, and career statistics) and to highlight where Pro Football Hall of Fame players rank in comparison, often with the goal of estimating a player's chances of making the Hall of Fame.

[7][8][9] Drinen is also responsible for the creation of the "approximate value" statistic, a metric used to quantify the value of a player's season.