Revolutionary new helmet rarely seen on NFL fields

The helmet that performed best in NFL testing this year is being used by 50 players spread across only half of the NFL teams.

Still, its developer is “thrilled” with that number, while expecting the VICIS Zero1 to catch on the way Larry Fitzgerald snags passes.

Yes, it seems strange that a piece of equipment some have called revolutionary and most have admitted is a clear step toward safer equipment isn’t in wider use. The new product topped independent testing of 33 helmets conducted in Canada by the league and NFLPA.

The results, which included testing the impact at three velocities and in eight locations on each helmet, were sent to each team and to the players.

The Zero1 is the first to account for rotational as well as linear impact. Scientific studies have indicated that rotational impact has more correlation with concussions.

David Marver, who created the helmet, was prepared for a slow adoption of the Zero1.

“Players are traditional and superstitious and have to be persuaded to try new helmets,” he says. “There’s a group of NFL players who are very concerned about their health and very interested (in the helmet). There are many who care about style; they want it to pass the eye test. It’s a mindset on new innovations.”

That mindset apparently doesn’t exist among doctors and scientists involved in either the testing methods or research into the efficiency and protective qualities of equipment.

When the VICIS helmet, which was nearly five years in the making, was tested it produced the lowest average linear and rotational measures of head motion across all impact speeds.