Patriots use VR 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 reps were virtual?
Both New England Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and head coach Jerod Mayo have said in the past 24 hours that the team is using “virtual reality” as a tool to train its quarterbacks. Mayo noted that VR is a way to get extra simulated “reps” for players like Maye, who was third in the QB pecking order at Patriots OTAs on Wednesday behind Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe.
This seems like a creative way for New England to maximize its resources in developing Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and the team’s QB hopeful of the future.
But not everyone is on board.
“This is so ridiculous to me, and I don’t care how many teams have done it,” co-host Mike Felger said Wednesday on NBC Sports Boston’s Boston Sports Tonight.
Felger noted that he has received emails defending the Patriots’ use of VR by comparing it to flight simulators used to train pilots. Needless to say, he doesn’t know 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. to have to place them in simulators.
“In football you can go out and practice the thing in real life, without anyone getting hurt, and you’ll be fine. So bad analogy. Don’t send me that again.”
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 think this is sad,” Felger added. “You know what I think this is too? The Krafts have invested heavily in this fakakta, stupid esports thing where we all expected to sit and watch other people play video games, which of course we would never do.
“It was stupid. It failed. But they probably have room after room full of that crap that no one uses. And now they throw Drake Maye there. That’s where they get their work. And without being asked Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo are talking about the virtual reps .Now the football people have sold this thing, and you know when they mention it, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“They’re playing Tron there at Gillette Stadium.”
Virtual reality obviously shouldn’t replace any of Maye’s real representatives on the field. But if it can help Maye’s development, there’s no reason why the Patriots would should not have to deploy the technology, just as they would have Maye study a film or read a script.
Fellow rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels has already taken advantage of VR and used the technology at LSU, where he won the Heisman Trophy last season.
It appears the Patriots are following a similar tactic as Maye, and it will be interesting to hear from the young QB on how VR affects his development.
