In an initiative to more precisely analyze place-kicking and ball placement, the NFL is reportedly finalizing plans to put custom data chips in certain game footballs.
ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert reported the technological development Sunday, indicating the balls would be deployed in the 2016 preseason and Thursday night regular-season contests.
The primary objective of the chips is to determine the prospective impact of shortening the distance between the goal posts. The NFL aims to measure how close extra-point and field-goal attempts come to the uprights.
According to Seifert, kickers converted 84.5 percent of their field goals in 2015—the second-most successful rate in NFL history.