NFL will use microchips to track kicking data

The data will be used to determine whether further changes need to be made to the kicking game.

This preseason will see microchips placed into new footballs that the NFL will use for data tracking purposes. Per NFL.com:

"According to NFL spokesman Michael Signora, the league will use microchips in footballs during the preseason as part of the next phase of the Next Gen Stats player tracking project. A chip will be placed in every ball during the preseason. Following the preseason test, the league’s Competition Committee will review the results to determine how the balls performed along with the potential uses of the data collected, Signora said."

Per the same article, Dean Blandino mentioned that the data collection is mostly about kicking:

"The discussion has really revolved around narrowing the uprights. That would be one way to affect both the extra point and the field goal."

We all know that the NFL has been interested in changing almost everything about kicking. From the constant mention of the extra point as a “dead play” to the impending potential total elimination of kickoffs. It’s not shocking at all the NFL would want to dig even deeper to find ways to make kicking more interesting, especially given the relative success of moving back the extra point (in terms of creating more exciting plays).

It’s important to note, however, that Signora indicated that the microchips are being put into every ball, not just kicking balls. So while the intent may be to figure out if there is a way to make the kicking game more difficult, there are a myriad of other ways that the data could be applied, especially when you consider that tracking every single football means tracking every single play. Some other potential uses for the data:

1. Advanced Stats Displays – The NFL and it’s partners like ESPN are constantly looking for ways to juice up their broadcasts. With the advent of things like Sports Science, you can see how tracking how fast a football travels or how tight a spiral is might be interesting to fans. Given that some of this data is already tracked, putting a Microchip in the ball will only make the measurements more accurate.
2. Health Management – It’s hard to tell if your QB has the same zip on his fastball from Sunday to Sunday, but this would make it easier. It’s one thing to track a single play using a camera system that gets a perfectly wide angle view of a long pass—it’s another to have dead-on accurate data about every single pass and the exit velocity from the QB’s hand. Is he getting tired throughout a game, or a season? Is he or any other player running slower? The movement of skill position players will be heavily tracked as well.
3. Fantasy Football – The more stats, the more involved the players are. The same stats that are used for the two reasons above can be packaged to fans as part of fantasy football research, especially for daily fantasy leagues. The NFL may be publicly against daily fantasy leagues, but that has never stopped them from providing plenty of stats, and it won’t now.
4. Skynet – We have to ensure they don’t become self-aware. I hope they’re on top of this.

The microchipped balls will be removed after this upcoming preseason, and who knows if they will be used again after that. But for now, the NFL is wise to take another step into analytics. You never know what information you might stumble into.

For more NFL coverage, visit our Hub page