Former NFL players make videos on helmet rule

Curtis Martin took and dished out plenty of helmet hits as he rushed for more than 14,000 yards in his Hall of Fame pro football career.

He just wishes he didn’t have to endure that.

The retired running back sees the NFL’s enhanced rule penalizing players for leading with their helmets as a positive step for the sport. As a member of the player safety advisory panel, he’s part of a leaguewide effort to educate the current generation on how to stay on the right side of the rule and reduce injuries.

“Hopefully we can extend careers and just have less contact to the head, which I just think is beneficial over a long period of time,” Martin said by phone this week. “We’re really focusing on getting the head (contact) out of the game. I wish it was like that when I was playing. I think it’s something that’s very positive, and I think it’s important as we go forward and the future of the game.”

Martin and former linebackers Willie Lanier, also a Hall of Famer, and Willie McGinest taped minute-long “NFL Way to Play” instructional videos for players stressing stance, posture and technique. For specific examples of head-contact hits that are now 15-yard penalties or possibly ejections, there are situation-specific videos narrated by coaches Anthony Lynn of the Chargers (ball carriers), Doug Marrone of the Jaguars (offensive linemen), Dan Quinn of the Falcons (defensive linemen), Mike Vrabel of the Titans (linebackers) and Todd Bowles of the Jets (defensive backs).

“I just had some things I wanted to try to share being a former player and having played that technique and coached that technique,” Vrabel said. “It’s what’s best for the game, the fundamentals.”