Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard is doing more than just improving the physical part of his game ahead of the 2020 season — he’s also working on the mental part.
Byard has been utilizing NeuroTrainer, a program that takes about 15 minutes per session and uses “neuroscience and virtual reality to optimize brain performance and collect neurocognitive data that leads to improved decision making, focus and vision.”
“When I first heard about it, it was intriguing,” Byard told Jim Wyatt of Titans Online. “It was supposed to be something while when you’re quarantining and in the house, you can put these virtual reality headsets on and it’s supposed to help you be mentally quicker, crisp, and it trains your mind in clutch situations, things like that.
“Honestly, I can’t say it’s helped me on the field yet because we haven’t played football. But every session that I did, I improved. My scores kept getting better.”
Upon entering the league, Byard says veterans advised him that the game was “more about mental than physical,” and it’s something the safety says he’s “really starting to understand.”
“At this point in my career, it is more about sharpening the mental part of your game,” Byard explained. “I want to add to my game any way I can.”
Byard, who has emerged as one of the best safeties in the game and secured a mega extension prior to the 2019 season, is entering his fifth season in 2020 after being drafted in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
For a player who is already an elite talent, both mentally and physically, the thought of Byard getting even better in either area should scare opposing offenses.
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