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.
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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.
Is it really that wild? Hockey players are insane people. They literally cannot remove fighting from the sport without the entirety of Canada revolting.
The referees back off and give people space to fight. In the middle of the game. They go from refereeing hockey, to dirty boxing, then back to hockey. It's a crazy sport.
I mean...
Aren't there rules for the fighting tho? Like you gotta drop gloves sticks and helmets.
And then don't both guys fighting ( in this hypothetical scenario) get the penalty?
Idunno man it seems downright civilized if you ask me.
Fwiw, I've literally never played hockey in my life. And the last "fight" I got in was a playground scuffle back in fight grade.
Edit: I meant fifth but it's funnier as fight grade
Other sports don’t allow fighting, but part of the draw of hockey is the morbid curiosity kinda like NASCAR.
In 2023 it was a guy in England. In 2022, a 10th grade kid in Connecticut. 2024 hasn't had one yet though. So yeah.
You could be right. CTE wasn't known about back then, but you don't hear a lot about pro football players in the first half of the 20th century acting like the ones today.
There wasn't as much media as there is today either, so that may be a factor.
There's also the fact that advanced in nutrition, exercise, and medicine mean that today's players move faster and hit harder.
Look at the size/build of the players back then compared to today... It probably didn't happen as much because people weren't as big and didn't hit as hard.
Tiny bit less money involved
Hooray capitalism!
Also enjoying that we have a method for reducing concussions by half, but it isn’t mandatory in games why?
The average NFL game is 4 hours long, within which there is only about 12 minutes of actual playing. Without the risk of severe brain injury US football is just about watching a bunch of men in tights to stand around.
I get why people throw that stat around but I don’t think it’s a fair way to view the sport. You can go in and only focus on those minutes but if you’re choosing to watch closely there’s lots in the middle bits too. It’s probably better to think of that stat as time of action. During that time there’s a chance to analyze how the teams are setting up, what movement and audibles are they making, consider strategy and future actions, etc.
I think probably most of our activities have an ebb and flow and highlighting only one aspect of it would certainly empower someone to try to ridicule or treat it as a waste of time.
Just trying to offer a different perspective because I do think the risk of concussion is worth highlighting but your ignorance is on display which can take away from the argument I think your trying to make.
Still a bunch of guys in tights chasing other guys in tights.
And there's something wrong with men wearing tights?
Pretty much anything can be boiled down to worthlessness if one chooses to view it in that light.
Did I say there was?
If you enjoy it, that’s your business. And if you enjoy it because of the tights, that’s also your business.
My issue with the sport is the number of kids getting CTEs, or dying from dehydration because their coach thinks that “toughens them up”; because they’re being told that’s their one chance to get out of poverty- even though the chances of that being true are almost effectively zero, when over the course of a career, STEM or even Trades offer more stability and more of an escape than American football ever has.
Further, that these things aren’t mandatory (or even need to be mandatory… for fucks sake) is deplorable.
Just for your edification, nobody thinks it's clever when you play dumb about a very obvious implication you were making. It's not smart not clever and not funny just tiresome.
You can paint plenty of sports this way.
How much time during a basketball game are they just slowly dribbling to the other side of the court with no contention? Same for football.
How much time during a baseball game is the pitcher playing with the ball, waiting for it from the catcher, or slowly winding up?
This is why Hockey is the best sport. The only breaks are when they have to restrain the players from continuing for TV commercials, ice resurfacing, penalties, and fights.
What method is that?
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.
I think rugby does a fantastic job of this. It's a much more controlled violence.
Or maybe we should just discourage hits in the first place.
Flag football doesn't get as many viewers
Ah, well. Guess we'll just have to live with CTE then.
It's crazy, but some people are happy getting paid millions to ruin thier body. But, your body your choice and all that, right?
Have you ever wondered why SO MANY football players come from lower-income households? It's a predatory industry.
And that would be true, if the government didn't enable pro sports by granting monopolies, subsidizing stadiums, and allowing the horrifying monetization of advertising and gambling, especially on broadcast media.
You want to run headlong into a brick wall, be my guest, but do it with your own time and money, not mine.
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
