End of the chain gang? NFL adopts virtual measurement system

The NFL introduced a virtual measurement system for determining first downs in the season’s first pre-season game and it could lead to the end of the “chain gang” on the sidelines.

During the Los Angeles Chargers’ 34-7 rout of Detroit on Thursday at Canton, Ohio, the league gave fans a first glimpse of the future of deciding first downs with the HawkEye technology method used to make line calls in tennis.

In the first half, Detroit running back Craig Reynolds carried for 10 yards. To confirm his run was a first down, the officials turned to the virtual measurement system, showing a replay that assured he had gone 10 full yards.

The system, operated by NFL headquarters personnel in New York, worked smoothly and quickly, making a determination up to 40 seconds faster than before.

In the meantime, the chain gang — the officials who for decades have held two sticks with a 10-yard chain in between them on the sidelines and run onto the field as needed to measure for first downs — was reduced to just another set of spectators, although they will be kept in position on the sidelines in case there is a system failure.

The system, confirmed for the upcoming campaign last April, features six cameras at various angles around the field to determine the ball’s position after every play.

The NFL called the new system “an efficient alternative to the process of walking chains onto the field and manually measuring whether 10 yards have been met after the official has spotted the ball, while noting, “The chain crew will remain on the field in a secondary capacity.”

Former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel, a Super Bowl winner as a reserve with New Orleans, posted on X: “I really don’t know how to feel about this… It’s the new virtual measurement system for first downs… give me chain gang all day.”

“Before you know it they will have robots going out there and measuring it. Just stop it already,” former NFL player and coach Herm Edwards said on ESPN.