The use of virtual reality to help train quarterbacks certainly isn’t new in the NFL. In fact, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer has used it for some time now and even talked extensively about it in an interview with Peter King of Sports illustrated back in November of 2015. With that said, it sounds like the Pittsburgh Steelers are just now starting to tinker with that technology, according to what offensive coordinator Todd Haley said in Thursday interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio when asked about it.
“It’s funny you ask, we’ve had those guys info the past week filming and we’re just kind of playing with it a little bit and seeing what happens,” Haley said.
Haley was then told about how a coach from Stanford recently said the best part of using virtual reality to help train quarterbacks is that coaches can use it after practice is over in order to see what the quarterback saw during plays before “blasting” the player for something.
“It’s cool stuff, there’s no doubt about it,” Haley said. “So, we’ll see where it goes.”
By the sound of things, the Steelers are just now starting to dabble with virtual reality and thus there’s no indication they’ll total incorporate that kind of training in the near future.
Here’s how virtual reality works in the case of Palmer, according to what King wrote a year and a half ago.
“A 360-degree camera is placed on a thin tripod next to the quarterback at practice, and it’s designed to see everything he sees, so that when Palmer puts the headset on he can move his head in any direction and watch, exactly at the moment, everything happening around him. After Palmer walks off the practice field, he uses the StriVR system to spot blitz keys. He also has a unit at home that he hooks up to a laptop.”
Below is a video that helps explain it a little bit more, courtesy of strivrlabs.com. You can also read more about the technology on their website.
