Guardian Caps are the leading soft shell helmet cover engineered for impact reduction that fans have been seeing across the league during training camp practices.
The league’s data showed that if one player is wearing the Guardian Cap at the time of a helmet hit, the cap will absorb 11 to 12 percent of the force. It sounds like something that should be implemented into actual games, but not everybody thinks that will happen.
Dr. Allen Sills, who is the NFL’s Chief Medical Officer, said recently that the league has no plans for players to wear these caps during actual games.
“Obviously, we’re trying to continue to learn about it. We’re looking a lot this year at joint practices where they are used and trying to understand. I don’t think the future of the game is about a guardian cap per se. I think what we can learn from that is how can we design a better helmet, what are the materials that may make the helmet safer, and more importantly how do we not use the head,” Sills said, via the Pat McAfee Show.
Guardian Caps may be in training camps to stay, but they’ll stay on the practice field.
If these caps can stop or cut down on head injuries, specifically concussions, this will be something to think about in years to come.
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It wasn’t so long ago that concussions weren’t a big talking point in the NFL. Players who were hit hard were sent back into the game. Those days are long gone
In today’s NFL, they are taken far more seriously. Players who are hit hard or appear to have any head injury are taken off the field and evaluated immediately for a concussion. If team staffers believe the player is seriously injured or at risk of a concussion, they will be pulled from the game.
The NFL concussion protocol is a series of steps players have to take to return to play after suffering a concussion.
If Guardian Caps are the future for players to stay healthy, then these caps need to graduate to the big league.
