For the avid fan, the upcoming NFL season may seem light-years away. But for Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the less than two months before their first preseason game appears eerily close.
In an interview with Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, FOX Sports’ Alex Marvez confirmed that the Buccaneers are looking into using a virtual reality program in order to prepare Winston for the upcoming season.
The Buccaneers are looking for any means possible to prepare their No.1 overall draft pick for the difficulty of the NFL game, in addition to the completely new playbook that Winston must learn.
Get The Latest Sports Tech News In Your Inbox!
But, in their search for a virtual reality system, the Buccaneers have encountered one issue.
“What I tell vendors that come in to show us stuff is that we need it today,” Koetter said. “Some people tell us, ‘This will be ready in three months.’ I say, ‘No, Jameis needs this tomorrow.’”
As far as virtual reality systems go for quarterbacks, there are two that have made a recent splash in the football world—EON Sports’ SIDEKIQ software and STRIVR Labs’ software. Both programs provide similar services to quarterbacks, but their one main difference is the presentation of the virtual reality.
The SIDEKIQ system uses programmed graphics for their virtual reality, which somewhat resemble what a user may expect from an old video game like Madden ’05. For this, EON Sports and the Buccaneers would need to program all of the many plays that they have into the system.
STRIVR software requires a lengthy filming process, for which the Buccaneers will have to run plays and film them for Winston to review later in virtual reality.
Both systems have a number of credible college programs to their name, but STRIVR is the only program that is backed by another NFL team—the Dallas Cowboys.
We will have to wait to see which virtual reality software the Buccaneers choose, but it will certainly be difficult for them to find a system that is immediately ready for use.