At first, Dan Orlovsky was not impressed.
The ESPN analyst removed the virtual-reality headset from his face and told Andrew Hawkins, the ex-NFL wideout who also works for ESPN and is an entrepreneur, his initial thoughts of what he’d just seen on the screen: a first-person point-of-view of a NFL quarterback.
“I wasn’t all that taken aback by it,” Orlovsky told USA TODAY Sports. “I wasn’t all that wowed by it because it was too video-game-y in my eyes at least. It wasn’t filmy enough.”
Six months later, Hawkins returned with improvements. Orlovsky, the former NFL quarterback who’s become a leader in the film-breakdown corner of the football internet, enjoyed what he saw to the point he suggested using it on air, and Hawkins said that was the goal. Then at the start of the season, Orlovsky donned the headset with the latest StatusPRO – a company that’s developed technology for coaches, players and gamers to use on VR headsets – update. Within 60 seconds, he said, “I was like, ‘Yo, this is sick.’”
Viewers of “NFL Live” had a similar reaction during the Nov. 19 program when Hawkins and Orlovsky introduced the technology, with the former explaining it while the latter broke down a clip from the perspective of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
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The first clip Orlovsky shared on his “X” account received 2.8 million views. “NFL Live” knew it had a hit on its hands. Orlovsky had a feeling it would be that way if those involved executed it well.
Ironically, the device Orlovsky uses is not his, nor is it property of ESPN. Carl Baker, a media operator who works on the show, owns the MetaQuest (a Meta/Facebook product) and lets Orlovksy borrow it for a few minutes on Tuesdays to educate the masses.
“I think it’s certainly the most innovative thing when it comes to the football teaching part, or the football education thing that we have in the media right now, for sure,” Orlovsky said. “I mean, nothing else is like this. Nothing else brings fans into this. Nothing else brings fans into that perspective or that vantage point or in the body of the player and seeing what they see.
“It’s obviously been a massive hit.”
The next iteration of telestration?
NFL PRO ERA 25 debuted last year with Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson on the cover.
The headset started as a training product for players and coaches and morphed into providing the technology for the casual consumer. The video game was created. But not everybody owns a virtual-reality headset – definitely not at the ubiquity-level of other gaming consoles.
Repetitions are essential for any player. Other than playing and practicing on the field, the headset is now another way to gain “reps” without being out there.
“When you talk about just slicing it up and identifying different ways for a media person to use it, or for a coach or a fan at home to experience it, it all ties together and feeds one another,” StatusPRO co-founder Troy Jones told USA TODAY Sports, noting that data from the NFL’s Next Gen Stats make it possible to take plays that happened in real life and put them into the headset.
Showing plays in first person can be beneficial for a more experiential learner, somebody who does not immediately grasp the bird’s-eye view from the all-22 tape.
“The people who are really good film watchers have that ability, but not everybody does,” Hawkins said. “I think that’s where the tool comes in, because it removes that translation layer of you having to see it from a bird’s eye and then imagine, what I do on the field, this is exactly what it looks like.
“It’s actually going to be a lot easier for you as a player to say, ‘Oh, I’ve seen this.’”
Exposing the technology through a program like “NFL Live” seemed like a natural fit, even before Hawkins landed with ESPN as an analyst and started contributing to the program; he said those conversations happened simultaneously with convincing ESPN and Disney bosses to take a chance with a headset-related segment. Years earlier, StatusPRO had applied to be in the Disney Accelerator program and was selected to be part of the 2024 cohort.
Dwindling attention spans and the craving for bite-sized analysis make a segment like this resonate, ‘NFL Live’ coordinating producer Lydelle King said.
“If we can hold them, if we can keep them and get their attention in a way that seems to be creative and, like I said, very different, I think the world is looking for just a lot of experiential types of technology,” King told USA TODAY Sports. “And this was one of the ones that we really decided let’s sink our teeth into and really try to make it work.”
Making the segment watchable for people at home was the bigger challenge. The staff didn’t know how immersive they could make it. But it became obvious to King that if members of different groups and silos at ESPN came together and found a solution that it was going to be something that resonated with their audience.
‘NFL Live’ director Timothy Farrell, Baker – keeper and master of the headset – and Jeff Ghiringhelli from ESPN’s innovation team helped make it possible and answered the question “What’s the next iteration of telestration?” King said.
There was one more query King had.
‘Is there a way that we can get Dan Orlovsky to utilize this to at least share what his findings are on television?’
Only one man for the job
Orlovsky had a full handle on the controls in about 15 minutes.
“He’s, like, a little bit of a genius with the technology,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins immediately called Jones afterward and said he’d never seen anybody pick it up that quickly. All ESPN needed to see from Orlovsky was one dress rehearsal to green-light it for the air.
As a career backup, Orlovsky – who played for five teams over 12 years – has thousands of hours of mental repetitions.
“I think to be hired to have that job for a dozen years, you really have to know and understand the game without really doing it as often. … As big of a goofball as he is, the man can certainly think this game forward and backward,” King said.
Orlovsky doesn’t want to say manipulating the technology came easy to him, as he asked Hawkins to streamline some of the controls at his disposal. He holds a joystick with two buttons in each hand and, because he has something covering his face, can’t see what he’s doing; his command is based entirely off feel.
“This is all attached to how I learned football in a way,” Orlovsky said. “I feel I watched so many different moments of football being taught in meetings or on practice fields or walkthroughs and drills. And I feel like I’m just doing that stuff with the equipment on TV.”
Orlovsky is no stranger to the telestrator or video board and often uses them during “NFL Live” or “Get Up!” He said virtual-reality analysis will be one of the leading tools to teach the game going forward. The communication of the analysis will always be the most important aspect, however. Technological advancements don’t replace somebody saying something clearly and in a way that others can not only understand, but foster intrigue and entertainment.
“The technology will eventually fall flat,” he said. “So the hammer sounds great, but it’s the person swinging it that is just as equally as important.”
The initial reaction from the clips on ‘NFL Live’ is validating, Jones said, because augmented and virtual reality will only become more popular.
“Fans want more. Media analysts want more,” said Jones, who was a quarterback at Western Kentucky from 2013-15. “They want to be able to really show the game and make everyone appreciate the game that they’ve been fortunate to play.”