When Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen watches old clips of himself slinging passes back at the University of Wyoming, he swears he can’t even recognize the guy on the screen.
“It’s night and day in terms of the type of thrower I am,” Allen declared this summer. “Where I held the ball, where I released the ball — it looks like a different guy. It’s kind of gross to look at sometimes. But I don’t think it’s as gross anymore.”
Allen, much like many of his NFL quarterback counterparts, takes the time each offseason to fine-tune the intricate details of his throwing motion, all in the pursuit of utmost efficiency, as he explained. And when it comes to efficiency, biomechanics experts like Chris Hess, the brains behind the 3D motion analysis company Biometrek, are the specialists to turn to.
“Accuracy isn’t voodoo,” Hess boldly states, “it’s biomechanical science.”
Having collaborated with Hess and his cutting-edge motion-capture software since 2020, Allen firmly believes that this partnership has contributed to his growth as a more precise and controlled thrower. The statistics seem to support this claim, with Allen’s completion percentage soaring from 52.8 and 58.8 in 2018 and 2019 to an impressive 69.2 percent in 2020, a figure that hasn’t dipped below 63 percent ever since (even when battling through a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in 2022).
An increasing number of NFL quarterbacks are turning to independent experts like Hess to integrate biomechanics and its associated technology into their offseason regimen. Young talents such as Allen, C.J. Stroud, Caleb Williams, Anthony Richardson, and Brock Purdy have sought guidance from Hess to obtain vast amounts of data that dissect every aspect of their throwing efficiency using motion-capture technology.
“It’s the most crucial position in all of sports, so you’re always evolving, trying to find ways to simulate mental reps, physical reps, without overexerting yourself,” remarked Bills GM Brandon Beane. “There’s so much at stake in that position that you are constantly searching for any opportunity to enhance and provide your guys even the slightest edge.”
As the quarterback moves, streams of data are generated and converted by a computer into data on speed and energy outputs from every part of his body at every millisecond of each throw. Hess then organizes this trove of information into comprehensible pieces, including graphs and a visual representation of the quarterback’s body in motion — a skeletal structure with vibrant colors indicating energy transfer.
“If you’re reaching out to me, you’re ready for some detailed information,” Hess emphasized.
