September 30, 2024
When Dr. Allen Sills joined the NFL in 2017 as its first chief medical officer, the neurosurgeon and founder of Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center had one primary focus: to eliminate head injuries among football players.
The sport is making progress in that area through policy and technology changes, but Sills acknowledges there is still work to be done.
“That’s really the challenge that we give ourselves—how do we preserve the part of sport that people enjoy, all the great positive attributes, and yet continue to make it safer?” Sills asked. “That’s what we’re working very hard to do.”
First, the progress.
For the first time, players are competing in games wearing Guardian Caps, a soft-shell helmet overlay shown to reduce the force of impact by 10-15% per player involved in a collision, and newly designed position-specific helmets.
This move comes a year after the league-mandated the use of the caps for all players in any practice situation when a helmet is worn, with the exception of quarterbacks, kickers and punters, who rarely experience out-of-competition collisions, according to Sills.
Guardian Caps were created in 2010 and have been used in practice since 2015, resulting in a 50% reduction in concussions during practice, compared to the league’s three-year average, Sills said.
Guardian NXT, the current cap model, was made specifically for the NFL.
Not everyone, however, is in favor of the 7-ounce helmet-cover technology, with complaints they are heavy and hot, and they lack style. The caps are used by less than 10 players per weekend, and high-profile concussions still occur, such as Tua Tagovailoa’s injury in the Miami Dolphin’s week 2 loss to Buffalo Sept. 12.
Sills countered that in addition to the use of Guardian Caps, players are now more protected than ever thanks to two additional advancements: the next generation of helmets that offer increased protection and the development of position-specific headgear.
The NFL reported that five new helmet models available this year tested better on safety than any previous models and did as good a job of reducing concussion or force as the Guardian Cap.
“We label those as what we call Guardian Cap-optional helmets, which means that if you’re wearing one of those helmets, you don’t have to wear the Guardian Cap in practice, because you’re just as protected, if not more, than if you had a Guardian Cap,” Sills said.
The league and NFL Players Association also approved eight new position-specific helmets for quarterbacks and linesmen, designed to reduce force that produce injury for their specific positions.
“Quarterbacks tend to suffer a lot of their concussions from falling to the ground unprotected as they throw the ball, and then striking the back of their head against the ground,” Sills said. “For linemen, their helmet design incorporates additional protection in the front, where a lot of their blows occur, causing injury.”
Sills estimated that more than 200 players are wearing position-specific helmets, and of the 1,696 active players—each of whom gets to choose their own helmet—98% are competing in what the league considers top-performing equipment.
“Players don’t tend to change equipment when they’ve been successful,” Sills said. “They like to keep things the same, but they’re making these choices because they have confidence in this testing and the fact that it has shown these newer helmets offer better protection.
“That’s a real success story, and it’s something fans may not recognize, but we see it as a significant step forward for safety.”
Despite these advancements, the bigger goal in combating head injuries remains reducing head contact in football, which Sills said is the only way to effectively protect against concussion.
“We’re not saying wear a better helmet and put on a Guardian Cap so you can use your head,” Sills said. “It’s the opposite. It’s like your car. You want to have airbags and all the protection, but your best protection is to stay out of a collision in the first place.”