MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference
What makes for a franchise quarterback in the NFL? QB whisperer Jordan Palmer believes success starts with emotional and mental fitness, which he says are vastly more important than any measure of athletic performance or potential. Palmer told us today at the Sloan gathering that “confidence and maturity are the initial barriers to entry” and what he assesses in a prospect before considering strength, size, or speed. “My eyes always go first to the emotional and mental side of things,” the former NFL QB said.
Isn’t this the case in all businesses? Or shouldn’t it be? After all, employers routinely report in surveys that while they are satisfied with college graduates’ technical and professional capabilities, they are disappointed with their emotional intelligence and their ability and willingness to collaborate, communicate, and problem-solve with other people on teams.
Palmer shared a panel with ESPN’s Field Yates and Kevin Meers of Zelus Analytics, offering that “confidence is a muscle; it’s something you develop. “There are two kinds of confidence,” he said, “reactive confidence” fueled “by what others are saying about you and self-generated confidence.” He said quarterbacks can get lost in the echo chamber represented by what pundits and scribes say and must first believe in themselves. This requires a certain level of emotional intelligence, of course, in order to balances intrinsic confidence with the humility needed to keeping learning and growing.
If prospects seem to pass the emotional intelligence threshold, which has been severely difficult to assess given the limitations of Zoom during the pandemic, Palmer and Meers then focus on a quarterback’s accuracy. Accuracy is hard to measure, however, and some experts believe it cannot be developed in the first place. Palmer disagrees and powerfully illustrates his view by pointing to accuracy improvements born of three innovations he has been undertaking with prospects:
Vision: Working with Neurodynamic Vision to test eyesight in extraordinary ways, for example, discovering that some QBs with "demonstrated" 20-20 vision have actually been diagnosed with poor vision 20 or 30 yards away. Apparently, these diagnoses were not identified using standard tests.
Movement: Using biometric sequencing to analyze and correct forward, backward, and lateral body movements.
Chips: Partnering with Wilson to place microchips in footballs to assess velocity, spin rate, and spiral efficiency.
Neurodynamics, biometric sequencing, and spiral efficiency … say what? Patriots' Coach Bill Belichick was once asked by a radio show host what made Tom Brady so effective in bad weather. He responded, “He’s got big hands."
