How the NFL’s Best Practitioners Use Performance Data

Elite teams have access to more performance data than ever. The real competitive advantage, however, comes from knowing which questions to ask, how to interpret the answers and when to act.

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Jamie Hepner, Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult.

Drawing on almost 12 years of working with leading NFL and college football programmes, Jamie explains how applied sports science has progressed from simply monitoring athletes to actively shaping training and practice.

The conversation explores how performance teams can combine wearable data, video and practitioner judgement to manage player availability without leaving athletes underprepared. Jamie discusses why training load cannot be viewed in isolation, how deviations at individual and positional-group level require different responses, and why feeling tired after a demanding training block is not necessarily a negative outcome.

Jamie also explains how technology such as Vector 8 is connecting physical performance data with the tactical context of practice. This allows practitioners to examine the demands of particular plays, automate player participation and prescribe the type and number of repetitions an athlete may need during the week.

This is a practical discussion about moving beyond interesting information and using data to make decisions that improve preparation, availability and performance.

In this episode you will learn

• What applied sports science looks like within NFL and college football
• Why the quality of the question determines the value of the data
• How player tracking and video can provide greater context around physical demands
• Why minimising training load does not necessarily reduce injury risk
• How performance teams balance player availability with adequate preparation
• How wearable data can help prescribe practice rather than simply review it
• Why individual and positional-group deviations require different responses
• How subjective athlete feedback and objective performance data work together
• Why fatigue and soreness can sometimes be an intended training response
• How practitioners can turn performance information into decisions coaches can use
• Why the next stage of athlete monitoring is likely to focus on context rather than data volume

About Jamie Hepner

Jamie is Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult

He works with leading American football programmes to help practitioners and coaches apply athlete-monitoring data to training, preparation and player-availability decisions. During almost 12 years at Catapult, Jamie has helped the company respond to the evolving performance needs of NFL and college football teams.

Originally from Australia, Jamie relocated to the United States when he joined Catapult during the company’s early expansion into American sport. His previous experience includes athlete management with AFL Victoria and strength and conditioning coaching.

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