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Justin Fields is a uniquely talented quarterback with a rare combination of size, speed, and a rocket arm.
However, one area he needs to improve is his progressions scans. Like many young quarterbacks, he needs to expand his field vision and become a more comprehensive field reader.
So it was a great idea for Jets’ new OC Tanner Engstrand to have the organization order GoPro cameras and install them on the QBs helmets in practice this spring.
“We said let’s give it a shot in rookie minicamp and see what it looks like,” Engstrand said. “And then we loved it and we just said let’s do it. And it’s been phenomenal for those guys.”
“By mounting a GoPro onto a player’s helmet, the players and coaches are given a unique perspective of the play—the actual angle that a player’s eyes are analyzing it from,” GoPro wrote on their website about the product.
Fields has enjoyed the experience.
“It’s my first time ever doing it. It’s definitely cool,,” Fields said. “You’re just hearing the play call again and going through, making sure you’re doing everything within the process of the play, so yeah, I like the GoPro a lot.”
UConn coach Jim Mora Jr. uses it with his quarterbacks in Storrs.
“GoPro is a great tool, and a huge part of our learning process,” said Mora. “Where you are looking first, who you are zeroing in on, what is catching your attention—these are the essential things that the GoPro picks up from the eyes of the player.
“In football, you are always thinking about where to look and where your eyes should be, and as a QB you need to figure out your passing progression and where to throw it in real time,” Mora says. “GoPro gives us the closest perspective to the actual eyes and head movements of the players and allows us to talk through the thought process of each look, each decision, and each play.”
The Jets certainly hope this helps Fields’ processing. It can’t hurt.
But it remains to be seen if this has any impact on Fields’ ability on progressions in real games.
Because it’s one thing to use a GoPro in non-contract practices to see how you deal with progressions, in sessions where you can’t sack, or even touch the quarterbacks, it’s another to go through progressions against opponents with pass rushers coming after you who can actually hit you, and with opponents presenting disguised coverages.
And let’s not forget, we are talking about a 26-year-old QB, who already played four years in the NFL, three years in college, so that is a lot of games, and after all that action, sometimes, a player’s muscle-memory is pretty entrenched and difficult to change.
It’s possible that the GoPro, and his new coaches including Engstrand, QB coach Charles London and passing game coordinator Scott Turner can take Fields field vision to another level, but it’s not going to be easy.
June 17, 2025
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