NFL data via ESPN public endpoints plus an nflverse backend for schedules, weekly rosters, play-by-play, and normalized player/team stat tables. Zero config, no API keys. Use when: user asks about NFL scores, standings, team rosters, schedules, game stats, box scores, play-by-play, injuries, transac

NFL Data Before writing queries, consult references/api reference.md for endpoints, ID conventions, and data shapes. Setup Before first use, check if the CLI is available: If pip install fails (package not found or Python version error), install from GitHub: The package requires Python 3.10+. If your default Python is older, use a specific version: No API keys required. For nflverse backed commands ( get nflverse ), install the NFL extra: On Python 3.10+ this installs nflreadpy (the preferred backend) plus pyarrow , which is needed for most nflverse data beyond schedules. On Python 3.9 it installs nfl data py instead, since nflreadpy requires 3.10+. The nfl data py backend is a reduced fallback: it cannot serve get nflverse team stats , which returns an explanatory error there. Use Python 3.10+ for full nflverse coverage. Quick Start Prefer the CLI — it avoids Python import path issues: Python SDK (alternative): CRITICAL: Before Any Query CRITICAL: Before calling any data endpoint, verify: Season year is derived from the system prompt's currentDate — never hardcoded. If only a team name is provided, call get teams to resolve the team ID before using team specific commands. Choosing the Season Derive the current year from the system prompt's date (e.g., currentDate: 2026 02 16 → current year is 2026). If the user specifies a season , use it as is. If the user says "current", "this season", or doesn't specify : The NFL season runs September–February. If the current month is March–August, use season = current year (upcoming season). If September–February, the active season started in the previous calendar year if you're in Jan/Feb, otherwise current year. Commands Command Description get scoreboard Live/recent NFL scores get standings Standings by conference and division get teams All 32 NFL teams get team roster Full roster for a team get team schedule Schedule for a specific team; reports coverage limits get game summary Detailed box score and scoring plays get leaders NFL statistical leaders get news NFL news articles get play by play Full play by play for a game get win probability Win probability chart data get schedule One season week or ESPN's current window; never a whole season get injuries Injury reports with provider native or unresolved identity get transactions Recent transactions get futures Futures/odds markets get depth chart Depth chart for a team get team stats Team statistical profile get player stats Player statistical profile get nflverse schedule nflverse backed schedules/results table (carries espn event id ) get nflverse weekly rosters nflverse backed weekly rosters get nflverse player stats nflverse backed player stats — season totals by default get nflverse team stats nflverse backed team stats — season totals by default get nflverse play by play nflverse backed play by play rows get fantasy trending Sleeper fantasy trending adds/drops (popularity counts, Sleeper player IDs) See references/api reference.md for full parameter lists and return shapes. Do not infer a bye from an empty get schedule response: inspect its coverage block, whose completeness is unknown or partial , never complete . For a whole team season use get team schedule ; season only get schedule is refused because ESPN's scoreboard mixes and truncates it. An absent or unresolved injury record is not evidence that a player is healthy. Fantasy Trending (Sleeper) get fantasy trending reads Sleeper's public trending endpoint: the NFL players most added (or dropped) in Sleeper fantasy leagues over a recent window. trend type : add (default) or drop . lookback hours : whole hours, 1 168 (default 24). limit : 1 100 (default 10). count is the add/drop tally Sleeper's trending API reports for the player over the window. It is a popularity signal, not a projection, ranking, or betting edge — say so when reporting it. Player IDs are sleeper player id , Sleeper's own namespace — keep them as the identifier. There is no mapping to ESPN athlete IDs or nflverse GSIS IDs: do not attach one, and do not present a name or team match against another provider as the same confirmed player. name resolved: false means Sleeper's player catalog had no name for that ID. team and position are resolved separately and may still be filled in. If the catalog itself could not be fetched, catalog status is unavailable and warnings[] says why; counts and IDs are still valid. Report freshness from source.trending fetched at . Trending results are cached in memory for 5 minutes, within one process only — each new CLI call fetches them again. Sleeper's player catalog (trimmed to IDs, names, teams and positions) is also saved under $XDG CACHE HOME/sports skills/sleeper/ (default ~/.cache/... ) and reused across processes until 24 hours after it was fetched, since Sleeper asks clients to fetch it at most once a day. That disk cache is best effort: if it cannot be written, the call still succeeds and the next process fetches the catalog again. Shaping Wide nflverse Results nflverse tables are wide: one week of get nflverse player stats is ~960 rows with 100+ stat columns (millions of characters). Every get nflverse command accepts sort by , descending , limit and fields so you can ask for just the rows you need: sort by : one column to sort by. Numbers (and numeric strings) sort numerically; missing values always go last. descending : true (default) or false ; only used with sort by . limit : positive integer, applied after sorting. fields : comma separated keep list. The identity columns below and the sort by column are always kept. An unknown sort by / fields column returns an error listing the valid columns. With any of these set, the response adds total rows (matching rows before limit ) and returned rows . With none set, output is unchanged. They are applied after the fetch, so they never change the upstream request or its replay entry. Stat columns inside stats (e.g. passing yards ) are addressable directly; fields keeps stats as an object holding only the selected keys. Command Always kept by fields get nflverse player stats player id , player name , position , team , week get nflverse team stats team , season , week , game id get nflverse play by play play id , game id get nflverse weekly rosters player id , player name , team , position get nflverse schedule game id , week , away team , home team Using ESPN and nflverse Together The two backends use different identifier systems. get nflverse schedule is the bridge: each event carries espn event id , which is exactly the ESPN event ID. To combine nflverse analytics (EPA, win probability, betting lines) with ESPN detail (box scores, drives) for the same game: 1. Call get nflverse schedule(season=..., week=...) . 2. Read espn event id off the event you want. 3. Pass it as event id to get game summary , get play by play , or get win probability . Two things that do not line up automatically: Team abbreviations. ESPN uses LAR and WSH ; nflverse uses LA and WAS . The get nflverse functions accept either and translate. Going the other way (nflverse → ESPN), resolve via get teams . Player IDs. ESPN athlete IDs and nflverse GSIS IDs ( 00 0033873 ) are unrelated, and no crosswalk is available. Match on name plus team instead. Field to watch on schedule rows: total is the combined points actually scored, while total line is the betting over/under. Use total line for market work. Examples Example 1: Today's scores User says: "What are today's NFL scores?" Actions: 1. Call get scoreboard() Result: All live and recent NFL games with scores and status Example 2: Conference standings User says: "Show me the AFC standings" Actions: 1. Derive season year from currentDate 2. Call get standings(season=<derived year ) 3. Filter results for AFC conference Result: AFC standings table with W L T, PCT, PF, PA per team Example 3: Team roster User says: "Who's on the Chiefs roster?" Actions: 1. Call get team roster(team id="12") Result: Full Chiefs roster with name, position, jersey number, height, weight Example 4: Super Bowl box score User says: "How did the Super Bowl go?" Actions: 1. Call get schedule(week=23) to find the Super Bowl event id 2. Call get game summary(event id=<id ) for full box score Result: Complete box score with passing/rushing/receiving stats and scoring plays Example 5: Injury report User says: "Who's injured on the Chiefs?" Actions: 1. Call get injuries() 2. Filter results for Kansas City Chiefs (team id=12) Result: Chiefs injury list with player name, position, status, and injury type Example 6: Player statistics User says: "Show me Patrick Mahomes' stats this season" Actions: 1. Derive season year from currentDate 2. Call get player stats(player id="3139477", season year=<derived year ) Result: Season stats by category with value, rank, and per game averages Example 7: nflverse weekly rosters User says: "Give me the Week 1 Chiefs roster from the data table backend" Actions: 1. Derive season year from currentDate 2. Call get nflverse weekly rosters(season=<derived year , week=1, team="KC") Result: Weekly roster rows normalized for team, player, position, jersey, and status Example 8: nflverse play by play User says: "Pull Bills Week 3 play by play" Actions: 1. Derive season year from currentDate 2. Call get nflverse play by play(season=<derived year , week=3, team="BUF") Result: Play rows with game id, down/distance, description, EPA, WP/WPA, and score state Example 9: Fantasy waiver wire buzz User says: "Who are fantasy players picking up this week?" Actions: 1. Call get fantasy trending(trend type="add", lookback hours=24, limit=10) 2. Report name, team, position and count, with source.trending fetched at Result: The most added players on Sleeper, described as popularity among Sleeper users rather than a recommendation Commands that DO NOT exist — never call these ~~ get odds ~~ / ~~ get betting odds ~~ — not available. For prediction market odds, use the polymarket or kalshi skill. ~~ search teams ~~ — does not exist. Use get teams instead. ~~ get box score ~~ — does not exist. Use get game summary instead. ~~ get player ratings ~~ — does not exist. Use get player stats instead. If a command is not listed in the Commands table above, it does not exist. Error Handling When a command fails, do not surface raw errors to the user . Instead: 1. Catch silently and try alternatives 2. If team name given instead of ID, use get teams to find the ID first 3. Only report failure with a clean message after exhausting alternatives Troubleshooting Error: sports skills command not found Cause: Package not installed Solution: Run pip install sports skills . If not on PyPI, install from GitHub: pip install git+https://github.com/machina sports/sports skills.git Error: nflverse backend unavailable Cause: Optional NFL backend extra not installed Solution: Install sports skills[nfl] so the nflverse provider ( nflreadpy or compatibility fallback) is available Error: Team not found by ID Cause: Wrong or outdated ESPN team ID used Solution: Call get teams to get the current list of all 32 NFL teams with their IDs Error: No data returned for a future game Cause: ESPN only returns data for completed or in progress games Solution: Use get schedule to see upcoming game details; get scoreboard only covers active/recent games Error: Postseason week number returns no results Cause: Postseason uses unif

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