Building a Digital Athlete: Using AI to Rewrite the Playbook on NFL Player Safety

The Digital Athlete, a joint effort between the NFL and Amazon Web Services (AWS), uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to build a complete view of players' experience, which enables NFL teams to understand precisely what individual players need to stay healthy, recover quickly, and perform at their best.

On October 10, 2024, NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills led a discussion, live from London, about how the league, club and local medical personnel work together to prepare and plan for international games.

On April 9, 2024, NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills led an NFL Presents discussion focused on the league's efforts to remove preventable head contacts on the field.

The NFL harnesses innovative technology to help make the game safer. That includes the Digital Athlete, an injury prediction tool – built on artificial intelligence and machine learning powered by AWS – that represents the next generation in player health and safety.

On December 5, 2023, NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills led an NFL Presents discussion focused on the league's collaborative, research-driven approach to reducing lower extremity injuries.

A critical part of the NFL's efforts to reduce and prevent player injuries is the collection and analysis of on-field data. Recent innovation in player equipment – including sensors in mouthguards and shoulder pads – provides the league with data from practices and games to advance equipment, training, and how the game is played.

The NFL continues to drive innovation in helmet safety, helping lead manufacturers to develop a new quarterback-specific helmet designed to increase protection suited to their role on the field.

On Tuesday, January 31, NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills led a discussion about the emergency action plans in place at each NFL game, how other professional leagues approach preparedness, and what sports at all levels can do to be prepared for a range of emergency scenarios.

When NFL players take the field on game day, there is a comprehensive operation happening behind the scenes with a team of more than 30 medical professionals focused on one thing: providing players with the best possible care.

NFL Media's Steve Wyche reports on how the league's helmet technology has advanced and progressed in 2022.

Helmets are becoming safer at an unprecedented rate and more players across the league are wearing better-performing helmets as the NFL continues to drive innovation.

Building A Better Game: How customized helmets are benefiting NFL players.

For the NFL, the 60-Minute Medical Meeting is a crucial piece of game day preparations – an essential checkpoint before the action begins to ensure that officials, team medical staff, and gameday medical personnel are aware of all in-game player health and safety procedures and resources.

NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills is joined by NFL leaders and engineering experts for a discussion on the League's comprehensive approach to reducing head impacts on the field.

As the preseason get underway, players across all 32 NFL clubs are wearing padded shells on their helmets called Guardian Caps in the latest example of the league's continued work to foster innovation leading to better, safer protective equipment for players.

Hear from NFL Legends Michael Robinson and Golden Tate about their experiences with heat illness prevention and education, and the importance of staying hydrated and healthy in the heat.

The NFL and AWS are building the "Digital Athlete," a virtual representation of an NFL player that can be used to better predict and eventually prevent player injury. Check out more on the Digital Athlete and how the NFL is leveraging data and machine learning to make the game safer for players.

On February 8, 2022, the NFL's player health and safety leaders hosted a webinar recounting the league's second season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The hosts touched on a variety of topics related to the NFL's successful execution of a complete season, including vaccine education, the league's ongoing study of COVID-19 antibodies, and the league's decision to update protocols amid the Omicron wave.

This edition of NFL Explained dives deeper into the innovation surrounding player health and safety.

Jeff Miller, NFL EVP of Communications, Public Affairs & Policy joins "Good Morning Football" to discuss innovation in player health & safety.

See a first look at the NFL Explained: Innovation in player health and safety feature.

As part of the two-year NFL Helmet Challenge, three teams – Kollide, Impressio and Xenith – will receive grant funding to improve their helmets for eventual use in the NFL and throughout football. Here's a look into their labs and the technologies that are driving the future of football helmets.

On November 10, 2021, the NFL hosted an 'NFL Presents' webinar to highlight sports medicine professionals from traditionally underrepresented communities.

NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills joins NFL Network's Judy Battista for an interview.

Innovating off the field. Protecting players on the field. By gathering, analyzing and sharing data from the field, and rigorously testing helmets in the lab the NFL is driving helmet innovation that has contributed to a sustained 25% reduction in concussions for the last three seasons. Learn more about our work to help build a better game at NFL.com/PlayerHealthandSafety.