Experimental football helmet hitting the field
Except when a big star doesn’t show up or gets injured, it’s rare that NFL minicamps make many headlines.
That could change this month. NFL teams will be trying out a new helmet, the VICIS Zero1, that the league and the players’ union hope will be more effective in trying to limit head trauma. 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.
“All helmets that are certified are available for players to wear, we just take another step with which ones tested best in the lab,” says Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice-president of health and safety policies.
The NFL and union have released a poster highlighting results of the testing, which can’t reflect the comfort element. That’s entirely up to each player and the Zero1 already hit a snag last year when two universities, Oregon and Washington, sent them back because they weren’t comfortable.
“Equipment managers are great in making it clear this is one element of which helmet they should choose,” Miller adds of the testing, conducted in January and March. “Fit matters and comfort matters, and other issues that are relevant to a player.”
The Zero1 has been three and a half years in the making. It has two layers, and deforms ( basically, compresses) and reforms in the first layer. The second layer absorbs much of the force.
“The notion is it will mitigate a lot more of the force when a helmet hits something,” Miller says. “It is a novel design.”
Its creator, Dave Marver, and his associates met NFL equipment staffers to find out their likes and dislikes, all the while seeking to make a next-generation helmet for protection and performance. Marver finished the engineering phase last year, and then it was “time to get the helmet on the field,” he says.
He worked with semi-pro teams and colleges — Auburn and UAB tried it during camps this spring — made more refinements, and now minicamps will be a major testing ground.
“I would suggest it’s the most extensively tested helmet in history,” Marver says.
“It is very different. Traditional helmets are all designed the same, with a solid inner shell. Ours does deform and can withstand thousands of impacts. It’s a more sophisticated design.”
Is it the right design? Roger Staubach, Jerry Rice, Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin must think so, because they are either investors or supporters of Zero1, Marver says. And angel MD, which has helped fund the VICIS project, has a network of health care investors — 80 per cent of them physicians — supporting Zero1. Tobin Arthur, CEO for angel MD, says doctors have told him there could be applications for lacrosse, hockey, skiing and even the military, too.
Even before the players strap on the Zero1, there are skeptics. They include Chris Nowinski, founder and CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, who worries about a potential trickle-down effect. He strongly supports not having kids play football until they reach high school, and fears messaging to parents that it’s a good idea to allow their youngsters to play the sport because of an improved helmet.
“I’m well aware of marketing messages promoting the values of the game without talking about the risk of the game,” Nowinski says. “The overall effect can be negative, selling these to children who shouldn’t be playing.”