Implanted under the NFL logo on certain Wilson footballs is a piece of tracking technology produced by a company called Zebra. About the size of a nickel, the chip is gunmetal in color and has an etched likeness of the firm’s namesake animal on the front, along with a tag number.
The league uses this technology for different purposes, including the powering of its advanced statistical arm, NextGenStats, which provides users with details about player speed, ball speed, route trajectory and yards a ball actually spends flying through the air. Zebra also sells individual chipped balls to a handful of teams, including the Bears, Rams, Packers, Vikings and Eagles. (The company says it has 12 total NFL clients but was only allowed to name five.)
