The artificial intelligence era is officially underway in the NFL.
From my experience, there are two type of people in this world: those who are embracing AI, and those who don’t want anything to do with it. The technology is being presented to the public as life changing, and while it does have the power to be beneficial, not everyone is having positive experiences with it.
Just ask the over 70,000 people in the tech space that have been laid off in 2026 because AI has stepped in to do their job.
Though that’s scary, there’s a component of artificial intelligence that screams “adapt or die.” That’s apparently how higher ups in the NFL are viewing it, and recently, San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch said that his organization is using AI to help prepare for the upcoming NFL Draft.
When the annual event that brings college athletes into the professional game takes place this Thursday, there’s a good chance that many of the teams will be making draft decisions that were either made by or supported by artificial intelligence. The 49ers certainly will be, and we know that because Lynch took somewhat of a shot at franchises that aren’t using the technology:
“If you aren’t using it, you’re already behind. The cool thing is, what we’ve found, you don’t need to be an expert. Just like you at home, you can ask it to plan a travel itinerary, and it can spit out some pretty good things and some pretty good ideas.
Our developers… we’re fortunate to be where we are. We are kind of at the epicenter of the innovation there and we tried to take advantage of that. I do think every team is using it in some form or fashion. I think that will only increase as we move forward.”
For those keeping score at home, football went from feel and the “eye test,” to analytics, and then finally to AI.
Decisions made by organizations on draft day are often scrutinized months or even years after (I should know, I’m a Minnesota Vikings fan), especially if players don’t pan out. Now, I suppose teams that have a bad draft can chalk it up as an “artificial intelligence issue,” and put out a statement saying they plan on partnering with a different AI tool for future drafts.
Robots might not be taking over just yet, but it might be the right time for them to start taking the blame. I don’t know how you feel about your favorite team using AI to making NFL Draft decisions…. I’m personally not crazy about it. And I can only imagine the memes and online chatter when an NFL team that’s known to be using artificial intelligence really messes a selection up.
Then again, maybe AI is ready to start helping NFL organizations make big decisions. I’m sure there are some tortured fanbases out there (*cough* The Jets *cough*) that are willing to try anything else, and maybe artificial intelligence is exactly what the doctor ordered for them.
Regardless, we’re officially living in the future…
