NFL Reportedly to Insert Data Chips into Footballs for Select 2016 Games

July 18, 2016   ·   Matt Fitzgerald   ·   Jump to comments

In an initiative to more precisely analyze place-kicking and ball placement, the NFL is reportedly finalizing plans to put custom data chips in certain game footballs.
ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert reported the technological development Sunday, indicating the footballs would be deployed throughout the 2016 preseason and in Thursday night regular-season contests.
According to John Kryk of the Toronto Sun (h/t Seifert), the primary objective of the chips is to determine the prospective impact of shortening the distance between the goal posts. The NFL aims to measure how close extra-point and field-goal attempts come to the uprights.
According to Seifert, kickers converted 84.5 percent of their field-goal attempts in 2015—the second-most successful rate in NFL history. The league hopes the chips would help project how tightening the kickers' target would affect their conversion rates.
As for ball placement, the league has been eyeing the use of chips to improve in tha...

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