Jets experiment with Virtual Reps

Seeing is Believing: How Jets are using virtual reality technology to develop their quarterbacks



Ryan Fitzpatrick’s heart rate spiked as he broke the huddle and identified the blitz. He stared out at the defensive front, made the proper adjustments at the line and prepared to take the shotgun snap.

Just seconds later, he found himself standing in a near-empty meeting room.

The Jets have experimented with virtual reality technology in the first two weeks of training camp that could yield significant benefits for the foreseeable future. The organization is considering joining the movement to provide cutting-edge training tools for its quarterbacks like six other NFL teams (Buccaneers, Cowboys, Vikings, 49ers, Cardinals and Patriots) and several major college programs.

“I think it’s the next step,” Fitzpatrick told the Daily News. “I was surprised with the quality of it. It’s awesome. It’s actual video in real time. You’re able to see everything that’s going on in any direction. There can be a lot of coaching done this way, too.”

Brian Heimerdinger, the Jets’ director of player personnel and resident techie in Mike Maccagnan’s front office, has been at the forefront of the organization’s exploration of the virtual frontier. His fact-finding mission during a trip to Stanford’s Pro Day in March set everything in motion.

Heimerdinger tested a device designed by STRIVR Labs, a Silicon Valley outfit co-founded by former Stanford kicker Derek Belch, to better understand the immersive technology that looks to be a major breakthrough in coaching and player development.

Although STRIVR’s creation can be helpful to running backs (identifying blitz pickups) and middle linebackers (making checks in response to motions and shifts), the quarterbacks are the primary beneficiaries. It’s a teaching tool for starting signal callers and — perhaps more importantly — an accelerated learning tool for young quarterbacks deciphering the intricacies of the pro game.
It would be an invaluable resource for Geno Smith and Bryce Petty.

Five of the six NFL teams looking to enhance the learning landscape work with STRIVR. The Buccaneers have joined EON Sports VR, which offers more convenience, but lower resolution simulations, to help with the education of No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston.

STRIVR’s footage is taken directly from a 360-degree camera stationed on a tripod during 7-on-7 drills in practice. The Jets found that STRIVR is the superior product after testing both systems at camp.

The STRIVR technology is far from free. Teams have made investments of at least a few hundred thousand dollars, which will seem like a bargain one day given where this tool is headed.

There’s a Moore’s Law logic that interested teams have adopted: The power and precision of the virtual reality movement will exponentially improve every couple years. Headsets will be streamlined. Cameras will be implanted inside helmets. Think Apple computers circa 1976, a groundbreaking invention that evolved at a consistent rate.

The Jets’ dry-run this week included a STRIVR camera on a tripod about 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage in the middle of the field during 7-on-7 drills. Quarterbacks must be in shotgun to provide unobstructed footage.

The camera images are stitched together and loaded into the STRIVR program in the hours after practice. Quarterbacks slip on a virtual reality headset plugged into a computer in the meeting room to create their own personal Holodeck.

They can see and hear everything from practice through the real-time video on the headset. Although the headset offers a 110-degree peripheral view – less than the 130-degree view through an NFL helmet – the entire picture unfolds with a simple head turn to the left or the right. Quarterbacks can even look down to analyze their footwork or turnaround to get back into the huddle.

The program is invaluable for myriad reasons. Quarterbacks and coaches can simulate reps together. The images seen through the headset are projected on a computer screen for the coaches to monitor. So, coaches can help signal callers improve their eye discipline in real time.

If Smith is staring at the right side too long post-snap, for example, coaches can simply freeze the footage and correct it. If Petty’s eyes are fixed on the wrong spot before or after the snap, coaches will see it and attempt to re-train him.

The tangible benefit is improving overall pocket awareness, which should yield better decision making. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have carved out Hall-of-Fame careers thanks to consistently making the proper pre-snap adjustments to get their teams in the right protections. Most of their battles are won before they even touch the ball on a given play.


The STRIVR technology gives quarterbacks more reps at a time when the new collective bargaining agreement has curtailed practice and coaching hours. The proliferation of quarterbacks coming from a spread college system has ratcheted up the importance for more practice time at the next level.

For college spread signal callers like Smith and Petty, virtual reality reps are the perfect tool to accelerate their development. The program is designed to help quarterbacks better decipher sophisticated disguised defensive looks by establishing the MIKE (middle) linebacker, reading pre-snap safety movement and decoding the source of a blitz.

Petty, plucked from Baylor’s simplified scheme, admitted that a virtual perspective is much more helpful than simply watching the standard bird’s-eye view practice tape. After the rookie threw a pair of interceptions during a mid-week 7-on-7 session, he went to the virtual reality device to find out what went wrong.

“I got stumped on a couple coverages in practice,” Petty said. “When we watch film, I can identify — ‘Hey, that’s two-man or that’s quarters (cover-4).’ And then when I get out there and I got all this stuff in my mind, I don’t know. So to be able to go through it and make sure that I’m looking exactly where I’m supposed to be looking, that’s going to be huge.”

The virtual reality program will be particularly beneficial for Petty during the regular season when his weekly practice reps will be curtailed. Petty can simply use Smith or Fitzpatrick’s practice footage from the STRIVR camera.

Smith’s end game is simple: Make the smart play.

“It’ll help you out as far as blitz pickup, seeing the fronts, seeing the blitzes, seeing the safety rotation,” Smith said. “Now when you get on the field, you got to do it in live-action and make a decision.”

Fitzpatrick, whose former Bills teammate Trent Edwards is a consultant for STRIVR, envisions a day when the application will mimic golf simulators. Quarterbacks will be able to play four quarters inside a conference room. The possibilities are boundless.

The technology is poised to have a profound impact on the most important position in team sports.

The Jets might solve age-old problems by stepping into the virtual world.