How a 12-Ounce Layer of Foam Changed the NFL
How a 12-Ounce Layer of Foam Changed the NFL
Even the makers of the Guardian Cap admit it looks silly. But for a sport facing an existential brain-injury crisis, once unthinkable solutions have now become almost normal.
Late in his team’s game against the Green Bay Packers on September 15, Indianapolis Colts tight end Kylen Granson caught a short pass over the middle of the field, charged forward, and lowered his body to brace for contact. The side of his helmet smacked the face mask of linebacker Quay Walker, and the back of it whacked the ground as Walker wrestled him down. Rising to his feet after the 9-yard gain, Granson tossed the football to an official and returned to the line of scrimmage for the next snap.
Aside from it being his first reception of the 2024 National Football League season, this otherwise ordinary play was only noteworthy because of what Granson was wearing at the time of the hit: a 12-ounce, foam-padded, protective helmet covering called a Guardian Cap.
Already mandatory for most positions at all NFL preseason practices, as well as regular-season and postseason practices with contact, these soft shells received another vote of confidence this year when the league greenlit them for optional game use, citing a roughly 50 percent drop in training camp concussions since their official 2022 debut. Through six weeks of action this fall, only 10 NFL players had actually taken the field with one on, according to a league spokesperson. But the decision was easy for Granson, who tried out his gameday Guardian Cap—itself covered by a 1-ounce pinnie with the Colts logo to simulate the design of the helmet underneath—in preseason games before committing to wear it for real.
Maybe we should change how the game is played instead of putting helmets on the helmets
We've seen the same issues with hockey. The use of plastics in shoulder and elbow protections versus the older leathers and felt padding. When delivering a hit both players feel it, today not so much as a plastic shoulder goes into a face it's more one way.
As much as they have been changing the rules, a crazy part of me wonders if less equipment might help more, like those old leather helmets. Would players not be hitting as hard?
NHL players not wearing full masks is the height of idiocy. Most of them have worn full masks for at least a decade before going pro so it's not like they're going to get screwed up by them.
The really scary thing though isn't the plastic shells. Those are fine as long as you have proper gear yourself. It's getting cut by a skate. Every year one or two players will die from getting cut. It's wild to me that Hockey literally has an acceptable death rate without talking about things like underlying medical conditions.
Yeah one of the biggest issues is the fact that nobody teaches how to properly "hit" and, equally problematic, how to properly "be hit." Contact sports don't have to be as violent as they are now.
They really ought to put helmets on helmets on helmets for maximum safety.
This is a materials science issue to solve. The NFL now realize putting a hard shell outside of a skull doesn't do much for soaking up impact but a soft body provides protection. The game also discourages hitting the head and does try to avert damage as best as possible. They learn like OSHA; seeing what hit the wall and stuck.
Players with less brain mass and more fluid are the future picks as soon as we correctly factor in medical costs
Would I be way out there to suggest that if you have to go to these lengths to protect a player, maybe it's not a good sport for the 21st century?
If people want to play it & people enjoy watching it, why discard it rather than make it safer?
I enjoy skydiving, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, & eating fried foods. It’s on me to do those things in moderation.
"It is tradition that athletes must be harmed for our entertainment."
I'm not sure that people have moved on all that much from Roman gladiatorial combat.
Get rid of the pads and helmets and play like the rugby.
I don't think you could really say they're changing the nfl, I'm watching the game right now and I don't think there's a single one anywhere on either team. In fact other than maybe one or two players I don't think I've seen anyone wearing them at all this year.
Thought it was this guy:
Adding 12oz of weight to helmets is better than TBI but doesn’t feel like the best solution. I think a helmet redesign to incorporate those features would be better, like how MIPS helmets were introduced in other sports.
Will those ridges catch on a face guards rails? Looks like a shearing injury waiting to happen.
In the same vein, I've heard a lot of people suggest that the soft padding could slide less when contacting pretty much anything. So glancing helmet to helmet now contorts your neck (just a bit).
I suspect this will make players safer overall. But there's going to be a really bad incident and they'll ban them.
FTA:
The result was what the Hansons would later summarize in their United States patent request as a “protective helmet cap” with “a durable energy absorbing outer shell, which lessens the initial impact to the helmet … [and] an inner surface that allows the outer shell to slide over the surface of a helmet thereby reducing forces applied to a wearer.”
and
They also shelled out for additional outside testing to ensure that the caps wouldn’t affect neck torque and that they maintained a lower coefficient of friction relative to the usual football helmet’s polycarbonate shell, to ensure that crucial “sliding” effect.
So it looks like they've already though through that. Not saying it's impossible that a bad incident will be blamed on the Guardian, but it looks like they've done the necessary research.