LA Rams losing Dir. Sports Science, Tyler Williams may hurt team success

If you don’t recognize the name Tyler Williams, former LA Rams Director of Sports Science, you are forgiven. You see, much like the name of an offensive lineman, their name in the news is not common in terms of good news. The reality is that Williams has been somewhat of a superstar in the NFL Sports Science specialization.

And like many other areas where the LA Rams have enjoyed a competitive advantage, that fact made Tyler Williams a targetted expert for other NFL teams seeking to expand their expertise and improve the performance of their own Sports Science departments.

So how is a Sports Science department graded? Is it the number of players who fall to injury in a given season? Or is it some other algorithm that tries to weigh the impact of injuries on an NFL team? Well, the discipline of Sports Science is growing in popularity at colleges and universities. It is an involved study that measures and assesses how the human body reacts during exercise and sports.

More than just a trainer, the discipline involves consideration of stress, fatigue, hydration, nourishment, and even circulation. And the objectives are not just how to recover from injury, but how to prevent injuries.

Sports Science is a recent development

Believe it or not, the discipline has been around for a very long time. Some believe the origins began with the ancient Greek Philosopher, Socrates, who passed away in 370 B.C. The modern discipline was a bit more recent, with educational papers published on or after 2010. Perhaps one of the more notable events was the hiring of Dr. David T Martin to found the Performance Research and Development department by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2015.

For the LA Rams, they were already on board, having hired Reggie Scott, now VP Sports Medicine and Performance, in 2010.  Of course, when he was originally hired, his title was head Athletic Trainer. But he monitored advances occurring in Europe and began to monitor player workload in 2012. Now, the Rams have elevated the data and analytics of workloads for a particular player that they will literally cancel practice for that player if data indicates the risk of overworking the player.

That’s quite the change from the days of rubbing some dirt in it and shaking it off.