We are now through Week Five of the NFL season, and it has started like no other. Rookies like Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers are building on their college success and showing a promising future in the league. The Minnesota Vikings lost their starting quarterback, but Sam Darnold has saved the day and led them to be one of two teams left undefeated. The Chiefs left right off from last season's Super Bowl win. Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons recently threw for 500 yards against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and got the win. We are seeing new faces on teams, and injured players from last season are rebounding. Something else new to the game are coverings on some players’ helmets. Those coverings are called Guardian Caps, and they are the new wave of protecting football players.
Guardian Caps are soft-shell covers that wrap around normal hard-shell NFL helmets, adding an extra layer of safety. They are specifically intended to soften and decrease the impact of player collisions. This offseason, NFL executive Jeff Miller stated that Guardian Caps had contributed to a nearly 50% reduction in concussions among position groupings who use the covers. According to some sources, wearing a Guardian Cap reduces the intensity of player impact by 10%, while colliding with two players wearing Guardian Caps reduces the severity by at least 20%.
While Guardian Caps are the new, innovative way to improve players’ safety, several players in the league have voted against the cushion protection style. A survey was done asking 109 NFL players for their opinions about wearing the Guardian Caps during games. Sixty-five players responded that they were opposed to wearing the Guardian Caps during games, and 31 said they would. Thirteen players were undecided on their decision about wearing the Guardian Caps.
Some players stated that it added unnecessary weight, while others said that the cap could come off during the game. Cleveland Browns linebacker and former Notre Dame star Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah claimed he started wearing the cap after receiving a brutal hit in Week One, while Tennessee Titans tight end Josh Whyle added padding to his helmet after being diagnosed with two concussions in the previous year.
The Guardian Caps have raised a lot of controversy, but all that needs to be put to rest. Players’ safety should be the top priority. We are in Week Six and already have over 100 NFL players injured. Eight of those players are injured due to concussions. Rookie standout Malik Nabers went for a catch and got hit to the ground against the Dallas Cowboys and suffered a concussion. A rookie who just entered the league and has shown a promising future has been out for several weeks. DeVonta Smith caught a pass but was immediately tackled by multiple players from the New Orleans Saints, resulting in a concussion. He was placed on protocol but is still day-to-day. Tua Tagovailoa has now suffered his third concussion in just over four years in the NFL. Other notable players like Austin Ekeler and Taylor Rapp have suffered concussions and are day-to-day.
Tackling is a part of football, and concussions are prone to happening. The league is trying to protect offensive players from these hits, but they are still getting injured. They created Guardian Caps to help protect them, but still, some players are reluctant to wear the caps because of how they feel. At the end of the day, they should want a life after football. Concussions continue to add up and they end up leading to CTE in the future. We have seen players with CTE and the damages, and we have even lost some players to that. Those hits rack up over the years and at some point, the body can’t handle it. Players have to start thinking if they really want to risk their career, their life and their brains for all this. Don’t they want a life after football that they can remember?
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
