The Dallas Cowboys Will Use Virtual Reality to Train Their Quarterbacks

Are you ready for some (virtual) football?

According to a report by tech site Re/code, the Dallas Cowboys have signed a two-year deal with StrivR, a sports-focused virtual reality lab. The team will employ the lab’s headset and platform to train its quarterbacks to make better, well, snap decisions.

By putting on a headset, players can watch 3-D video of plays from the quarterback’s point of view—multiple times, from any direction. StrivR's program isn’t interactive—yet—but “it aims to teach quarterbacks decision-making skills in the context of a real play,” Re/code explains. As an added bonus, quarterbacks won’t have to depend on the rest of the team’s presence to practice their quick-thinking.

StrivR was developed by former Stanford University player Derek Belch. His alma mater adopted the headsets this past season and saw QB Kevin Hogan’s stats improve almost immediately. Pre-StrivR, Hogan completed 64 percent of his passes and averaged 24 points a game. At the end of the season, after using the set regularly for about 20 minutes before games, Hogan was completing 76 percent of his passes and averaging 38 points a game.

Stanford’s Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys aren’t the only teams looking to put virtual reality to work for them; the University of Arkansas, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Dartmouth have all signed on to make StrivR a regular part of their quarterback training, too.

[h/t Re/code, Fast Company]