NFL uses AI to predict injuries, aiming to keep players healthier

Injuries are an inevitable part of the NFL with all the high-speed collisions, crushing hits, and high exertion necessary on every play. Success each season often comes down to which teams can be the healthiest at the end, and a string of injuries has already hampered preseason contenders like Baltimore, San Francisco, and Cincinnati. With teams investing hundreds of millions of dollars every season into their rosters, keeping those players available to play is crucial, and any small edge has the potential to lead to better results on the field. To help achieve that, the NFL has turned to technology in recent years, partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) on an injury prediction tool that uses data and artificial intelligence to help teams manage the health of their players. "Fans want their favorite players on the field. The team owners certainly want those players on the field. The athletes themselves want to be on the field," said Julie Souza, the global head of sports at AWS. "Anything we can do to improve that and keep players healthy, that's sort of a noble endeavor." The Digital Athlete tool takes video and data from players on all 32 teams from training, practice, and games, giving every team information on how hard its players have worked, whether they are at risk for more injuries, as well as helping them track leaguewide trends and benchmarks. Digital Athlete uses sensors in the shoulder pads, cameras, and optical tracking to gather information from practice and games for every player on all 32 teams, similar to what NextGen stats does to determine who's the fastest ball carrier or how much separation a receiver generates on his pass routes. Teams have used it to help determine practice schedules for training camp, how hard they work the players in a given week of a season, and what players or position groups have been pushed so hard that dialing back their work might prevent nagging soft-tissue injuries. This article was provided by The Associated Press.