From Data to Delivery: How We Built the NFL Digital Athlete

The future of football isn’t just happening on the field. It’s happening in the data, the tech — and in the edits that bring it to life.

Digital Athlete lets us build a new kind of athlete from the ground up, powered by real NFL data and full-CG work. Every sprint, collision, and recovery — captured, mapped, and brought to life.

Project Overview: Building the NFL Digital Athlete

Digital Athlete is a digital twin built from years of NFL player data — simulating movements, predicting injuries, and improving safety.You can read more about the latest evolution of the Digital Athlete here.

It’s not a concept piece. It’s a real tool, used today.

"It’s more than just a highlight reel: the Digital Athlete uses machine learning, computer vision, and biomechanical modeling to predict injury risks, optimize recovery strategies, and keep players safer on and off the field."

This was a full Workprint project from start to finish:

• 2 months

• A dozen creatives

• Everything built from scratch

• No handoffs. No pre-built assets.

We led creative development in close partnership with the NFL's Creative Marketing Department to craft a spot that felt high-stakes and human — all in 30 seconds.

This marked our third Digital Athlete campaign with the NFL Player Health & Safety team.

Our Approach

We started with a script from the NFL — then shaped the story visually.

Editorial led the charge:

• Pulling plays

• Finding moments

• Setting the backbone of the story

Full-CG gameplay scene created to simulate player mechanics.

Biomechanical motion capture tests — tracking body force and repetition.

Rehab and recovery data integration for Digital Athlete modeling.

Live gameplay footage used to enhance movement realism.

Final Digital Athlete spot: data-driven storytelling brought to life by Workprint.

Early motion tests helped define:

• How the CG athlete needed to move

• How much realism vs. stylization the spot could handle

One of the biggest decisions? Real footage or CG. We tested both — and landed on full-CG models for ultimate control. That meant building everything:

• Player likenesses

• Uniforms

• Textures

• Lighting

• And most importantly: movement

With editorial, design, and CG all under one roof, we shifted fast — moving between cut and graphics to shape the story frame by frame.

What Made It Different

Packing dense voiceover, deep tech, and real emotion into 30 seconds isn’t easy.

We had to be brutal with the cut:

• Clear visuals

• Fast, confident storytelling

• Every choice — every clip, every graphic, every beat — had to earn its place.

The final spot doesn’t just explain the Digital Athlete. It feels like the future of the game.

Final Thoughts

Building this spot from scratch — writing, cutting, animating, finishing — is why we built Workprint.

Fast, flexible, fully integrated post. No handoffs. No drag. Just a team obsessed with getting every frame right.

Digital Athlete pushed us creatively, technically, and editorially — and we wouldn’t have it any other way.