Monitoring the performance of quarterbacks and linemen using data science
At Catapult, our mission is to continually build and improve the performance of athletes and teams. Over the last couple of years, our data science team has focused heavily on American Football to provide sport-specific metrics that can help to drive risk, readiness and return-to-play protocols.
By combining inertial sensor data from accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers with positional information, our data scientists have been able to extract unique data sets that can highlight the specific demands of different positions.
In addition to the standard performance metrics that can be derived from wearable technology, our unique algorithms empower coaches with position-specific metrics for quarterbacks and linemen.
Quarterback Metrics
By identifying each throw your quarterback makes during camp, practice and games, users can better manage an athlete’s true workload and keep them performing at an optimal level when it matters most.
Quarterback metrics include:
- Throw Count: Total number of throws performed
- Contact Load: The total amount of load from accumulated contacts
- Total Load: The total load accumulated by a player over the course of an activity
When leveraged, these metrics perform additional analysis by combining total load and throws to better evaluate the workload of each practice and game, answering key questions around the performance of your offensive lynchpin. How much load does a quarterback accumulate between throws? How does an intense aerobic practice impact throws? How do the physical demands of practice compare to games? Our metrics equip you with the information required to make more informed decisions around quarterback workload and performance.
Linemen Metrics
Triggering from contacts immediately following linemen entering a stance, our algorithms can illustrate linemen workload by evaluating their contacts and contact load.
Linemen metrics include:
- Contacts: The total quantity of contacts immediately following a stance
- Contact Load: The total amount of load resulting from accumulated contacts
- Total Load: The total load accumulate by a player over the course of an activity
- Contact Load %: Percentage of total load as a result of the load quantified from a contact
- Load per Contact: The amount of load derived from the beginning to the end of a contact period
As the NFL and other American Football leagues around the world push the boundaries of technological innovation in the sport, analytics such as those developed by our data science team are becoming increasingly important assets for teams seeking to optimise performance and generate performance advantage on the field.