Allen Sills, the NFL’s medical director, said Friday that since players on all 32 teams began wearing Guardian Caps in the summer of last year, the number of concussions has increased. has reduced by approximately 50 percent.
“The ‘Guardian Caps’ have been a resounding success for the NFL. They have achieved a significant reduction in concussions in training by approximately 50 percent over the last two preseasons,” said the doctor.
Since the 2023 preseason, after several investigations, the NFL determined that players should use this type of padded covers over the helmet in training prior to the regular season to reduce the intensity of contact that caused a high number of concussions.
At first it was thought that the use of this accessory could cause overheating problems for players during practices or could contribute to neck injuries.
On the contrary, the benefits were as expected with the significant reduction in concussions, which allowed each player to decide to use the ‘Guardian Caps’, not only in preseason games, but also in regular season games, as already happened in 2024. .
“We don’t see any negative effects on players wearing ‘Guardian Caps in games, so we don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be free to wear them,” explained doctor Allen Sills.
In each of the four weeks of this season between five and ten players have used them each day.
Although the NFL hopes that the use of ‘Guardian Caps’ will become more frequent among a greater number of players, it is not considering making their use mandatory due to the improvements that it adds year after year to the safety of the helmets, which each Maybe they have better technology to reduce the force of impacts.
