Patriots use virtual reality to train Drake Maye and Felger hates it originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The more reps Drake Maye gets, the faster he will develop as an NFL quarterback. But what if some of those representatives were virtual?
Both New England Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and head coach Jerod Mayo. I have mentioned in the last 24 hours that the team is using “virtual reality” as a tool to train its quarterbacks. Mayo noted that virtual reality is a way to get additional simulated “reps” for players like Maye, who was third in QB pecking order in Patriots OTAs Wednesday behind Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe.
This seems like a creative way for New England to maximize its resources in developing Maye, the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and the team’s future quarterback hope.
But not everyone agrees.
“This seems very ridiculous to me, and I don’t care how many teams have done it,” co-host Mike Felger said Wednesday on NBC’s Sports Boston. Boston sports tonight.
Felger said he received emails defending the Patriots’ use of virtual reality by comparing it to flight simulators used to train pilots. Needless to say, he doesn’t understand that analogy.
“Hey, dummy, listen to me,” Felger said. “Do you know why they put them in flight simulators? Because if you put them in a real plane and they make a mistake, what happens? The plane crashes. Then have put them in simulators.
“In football, you can go out and practice that in real life and no one gets hurt and you’re fine. So, bad analogy. Stop sending that to me.”
Felger also wonders if ownership is behind the push to use virtual reality, since Robert Kraft was the owner of the Boston Uprising, an esports team that competed in the now-defunct Overwatch League.
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“I find this pathetic,” Felger added. “You know what I think this is too? The Krafts invested a lot in this fakakta, stupid esports thing where we all expected to sit and watch other people play video games, which of course we were never going to do.
“It was stupid. It failed. But they probably have room after room full of this garbage that no one is using. And that’s why now they’re throwing Drake Maye up there. That’s where they’re getting their work. And without being asked, Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo are talking about virtual representatives. Now, they have the football people selling this, and you know, if they mention it, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“They’re running around playing Tron at Gillette Stadium.”
Virtual reality obviously shouldn’t replace any of Maye’s real-life representatives on the field. But if he can increase Maye’s development, there’s no reason for the Patriots to should not implement the technology, just as they would have Maye study a movie or read a playbook.
In fact, fellow rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels already benefited from virtual reality and used the technology at LSU, where he won the Heisman Trophy last season.
It appears the Patriots are taking a similar tactic with Maye, and it will be interesting to hear from the young quarterback how virtual reality is impacting his development.