Zebra tracking tech coming to NFL combine

One day, in the not-so-distant future, quarterbacks attending the NFL combine may not step onto the field to throw. Instead, they’ll step into a simulator to test their ability to read defenses.

“It will be a ‘Madden’-like video game,” said New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, who has discussed the concept with Zebra Technologies, the company that this past season tracked players during games. “The Air Force trains their pilots in these simulators; you can train a quarterback.”

“The Air Force trains their pilots in these simulators; you can train a quarterback.” Sean Payton Head Coach, New Orleans Saints Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

The NFL went into business with Zebra in July, signing a deal with the company whose business is making radio frequency identification tags that track products. A bar code on a sales sticker affixed to a consumer good very well could be from Zebra, a Nasdaq-listed company with $1 billion in annual revenue.

Sports are a relatively new area for the company. Its sports office in New York is located in an office share, with the front-desk receptionist taking calls and directing visitors for each of several companies.

Zebra hired veteran media and marketing executive Eric Petrosinelli last fall to oversee the rollout. The first iteration was used by the league’s broadcasters of what Zebra and the NFL dub “next-generation stats.” The broadcasters, with the exception of Fox, used the new stats this past season showing how fast players ran, how far they ran, their separation speed — all tracked by small RFID discs in the player uniforms. (Fox officials say they continue to evaluate whether to use the stats.)

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Petrosinelli said recently.

The next big rollout for Zebra is signing teams to use its offerings at practices. This past season, three NFL clubs used the technology at practices — New Orleans, Detroit and San Francisco — and Petrosinelli expects nine more to join them this offseason, with some of those clubs expected to sign their deals this week at the combine.

Payton used the technology to log how much time players spent practicing, information that gave him insight to know which players needed time off.

“It is impossible for us to track 80 players on the field and their work loads,” said Payton, who noted that soft-tissue injuries were down this past season for the Saints, something he attributed to knowing when to ease up on practice.

The NFL deal with Zebra does not require clubs to use the technology, but it clearly sends a strong signal.

“It is the NFL seal of approval,” said Jon Dykema, staff counsel for player administration at the Lions.

Zebra’s main competitor is Catapult Sports, an Australian company that uses GPS trackers and whose website touts 12 NFL teams as using its technology. Catapult officials did not reply for comment.

Zebra clearly expects to become the dominant player in the space, with its technology soon to be in all NFL stadiums alongside its relationships with the league and broadcasters. At the combine specifically, Payton’s forecast of a simulator may be many years away still — creation of such a product will take years of tracking data not yet available — but other changes may come more quickly.

Consider the 40-yard dash.

What may be more important than that full-span run time is the acceleration speed at certain points of the dash. If Zebra can track successful players with acceleration speeds, scouts would have a different metric by which to measure players.

So say over five years the successful cornerbacks that came out of the combine all have great acceleration between 10 and 20 yards: That is something that could overtake the actual, full dash time.

“We will see some of this at the combine [in future years]” Payton said. “Wide receiver separation releases, how fast they get into routes.”

And one day, perhaps, a simulator.