GPS Tracking to Help Player Safety and Development

The NFL’s Buffalo Bills have spearheaded a GPS innovation that will soon have the rest of the league buzzing. For most of the past year, the Bills have used a GPS technology that allows them to track the individual movements of players by using a small device inserted into the padding or clothing of their uniforms during practices and games. The NFL issued a memo to the other 31 teams in August that this program would eventually be used by all teams, though the league would keep the records initially to itself.

Health Benefits

American football is a violent sport that requires sudden starts and stops, some voluntarily, but most at the insistence of opposing players. The NFL has increased its efforts over the years to bring a certain amount of safety into play despite the inherent dangers, and GPS innovation is one of them. The device is worn by players and can be easily removed at any time, docked to a receiving unit, and have its data uploaded to a computer for analysis. Teams will be able to eventually determine the exact movements of players to help gauge how much a player is moving around. In practice, that might help them understand where certain limits exist when players go back and forth between drills.

Team Benefits

This GPS innovation was started last year by the Bills and used by their training staff to evaluate the efforts of the players. Most players welcomed the use of the devices, especially since they are non-intrusive and about the size of a pager. Most athletes are familiar with having their speed expressed in terms of a 40 yard dash, but most of the runs on the football field aren’t run in a straight line. This device can help measure the explosiveness players possess in a way that can’t be measured with a stopwatch and a straight line.

Player Benefits

With the emphasis on player health and safety, players can benefit from not being overworked. It seems odd to be worried about overworking athletes who are competing for playing time and job security, but this might help players maintain an edge is positional competitions. That way, when a player is tired, he has data to back him up that he has been exerting energy at the highest level.

Players and teams can agree that this new GPS innovation is the kind of change that can only help improve the product put on the field.

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GPS Tracking to Help Player Safety and Development