NFL teams are all-in with Catapult, and here’s why
Following our recent partnership with the Atlanta Falcons, Catapult is now partnered with all 32 teams in the National Football League (NFL). Catapult has been working with NFL teams since 1996, and has continuously innovated for customers through our industry-leading wearable, video analysis, and athlete management solutions.
This blog details:
- Catapult’s NFL football footprint
- Football’s most comprehensive set of solutions
- Adapting in support of football coaches
NFL football footprint
Catapult solutions are well established in the daily workflows of every NFL coach, with many of the teams having been partnered with Catapult for more than 15 years.
The Atlanta Falcons partnered with Catapult because our solutions are the most trusted to improve team performance. Catapult’s Chief Commercial Officer, Matt Bairos, has personally worked with some of the company’s NFL customers for almost two decades.
“Catapult has a long and rich history with NFL teams, with many of our staff either joining after working for a team, or later joining a team’s staff as a coach or performance practitioner,” he said.
“Our solutions have been engineered for American football athletes and coaches. We’re very proud to be individually working with every team in the league.”
To learn how football teams are using Catapult, click here to read more from Buffalo Bills Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Eric Ciano.
Football’s most comprehensive set of solutions
Teams, coaches, and athletes aspiring to reach the NFL need to be using technology that is proven to mitigate the risks of injury, objectify performance decisions, and improve athlete safety.
Catapult is partnered with more than 600 NCAA teams and 210 high schools across the nation. More than 80% of Power 5 programs trust Catapult, and 25 of the players taken in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft wore Catapult monitoring devices during their collegiate career.
NCAA-level teams specifically use Catapult “to put athletes in the best position possible to maximize their athletic performance while reducing the likelihood of injury,” says University of Toledo’s Director of Football Strength and Conditioning, Brad Bichey.
Catapult wearable and video analysis solutions work together to provide a full view of an athlete’s performance. Traditionally, NFL teams relied more heavily on video analysis than wearable technology but with improved combined workflow experience, teams can now obtain 900 data points per second on their athletes whilst also gaining performance context with video.
The importance of 900 data points per second with video performance context is discussed by Nick Saban in the below video.
Adapting in support of football coaches
The 2020 football seasons were like no other, with many athletes and staff forced to work remotely.
Catapult moved faster than any other in the industry to support teams, coaches, and athletes during this time. Subsequently, two new solutions which enhanced workplace flexibility and efficiency were engineered and delivered.
1. Cloud-based high resolution video analysis was added to the tactics and coaching solution Catapult Thunder (formally known as XOS Thunder). This solution provided remote access to team databases, video assets, and much more.
2. A new seamless indoor-outdoor experience was developed, allowing coaches to monitor their athletes no matter where teams practised. The solution harnesses global positioning system (GPS) and local positioning system (LPS), a first for team sport anywhere in the world.
Catapult is continuously developing more football-specific solutions, so click here to subscribe to our newsletter in order to be the first to hear about our new solutions.
To start your journey with the most used technology in NFL, collegiate, and high school football, click here to speak to sales.
Smart Tech: 2023 update – smart tracking ball
Catapult has partnered with Energous Corporation (NASDAQ: WATT), a leading developer of RF-based charging for intelligent wireless power networks, to create the first smart American football with an embedded tracker that can charge wirelessly without sacrificing precision data.
This new innovation reports the football’s movements in real-time to the cloud, allowing coaches to track and analyze not only every movement athletes make but the ball itself, giving a more complete picture of practice and game time activities.
“We were excited to partner with Catapult when they approached us about creating the football of the future,” says Cesar Johnston, CEO of Energous. “Our WattUp solution is the only technology that supports both contact and distance charging through a fully compatible ecosystem, and the sports industry was the perfect frontier for showcasing its power.”
During its two-year development, the football was tested by a select number of football teams, including Division-1 teams Boston College and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
→ Learn more about the smart tracking ball by clicking here.
More content for you:
- Jacksonville Jaguars – Catapult User Story
The most advanced GPS user in the National Football League, Tom Myslinski of the Jacksonville Jaguars first started playing with athlete tracking in 1996 while working with the Cleveland Browns.
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.
- IMG Academy: Using Catapult to prepare for the NFL draft
The Academy’s Strength & Conditioning Speed Development coaches are a major influence in the American football performance structure. They deliver custom training programs, mock NFL combine experiences, and off-field support via Catapult’s solutions and services.