On the sidelines during every game, New York Jets cornerback Donald Strickland performs a trick familiar to any toddler who has ever held a flip book.

Strickland takes the two overhead photos of each play that the National Football League allows players to examine—one taken just before the snap, one just after—and turns the pages really quickly to see how the play developed.

For a league that considers itself the world's most innovative big-time sports operation, Strickland's routine is a symbol of just how retrograde the NFL's "technology" really is. But that may be about to change.

According to three top NFL executives, the league has been meeting with technology and communications companies to brainstorm how to bring the league into the 21st century. Every technological advancement you can imagine is on the table.

Coaches selecting plays from tablet computers. Quarterbacks and defensive captains wired to every player on the field and calling plays without a huddle. Digital video on the sidelines so coaches can review plays instantly. Officials carrying hand-held screens for replays. Computer chips embedded in the ball and in the shoulder pads (or mouth guards) that track every move players make and measure their speed, the impact of their hits, even their rate of fatigue.