Popularity of helmet shells grows in NFL

Designed to reduce effects of head hits

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For Carolina Panthers rookie offensive lineman Brady Christensen any chance to protect his brain is a no-brainer — even if he thinks he may look goofy doing so.

That’s why Christensen is among a growing number of NFL players taking advantage of the new “Guardian Caps,” a soft-shell cover that retrofits to the top of the helmet to reduce impact and limit head injuries.

Sure, it’s a little strange at first, like wearing a small pillow on top of your head.

But NFL players seem to be taking to it at practice.

“Anything to protect my brain a little bit more, I’m all in,” Christensen said. “I want to remember my kids’ names when I’m 50.”

The Jacksonville Jaguars first experimented with the Guardian Caps in practice last year after the product received temporary approval from the NFL and the NFL Players Association. This year, 23 teams purchased the caps before the season for players to try out and five are actively using them: the Panthers, Bills, Dolphins, Bears and Rams. More than 100 players, mostly linemen, are using the caps, according to Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications for public affairs and policy.

It’s not hard to notice them. Buffalo Bills center Mitch Morse joked that when he first tried on the cap he felt like a character in a Halo video game.

Morse said at first his neck was a little sore from wearing the caps, but he’s grown to like the protection.

“It’s something that I’m very comfortable with and then we tried it on and, of course, we gave each other hell for how it looks,” Morse said. “But then after one practice, I looked at [Bills defensive lineman] Justin Zimmer, I’m like ‘man, I know we were getting after it, and I didn’t feel anything.‘”

Through testing at the Biocore laboratories of Charlottesville, Va., the NFL believes the caps reduce severity of impact blows to the head by about 10%.

Currently, more than 200 colleges are using them, including the top five teams in the country. More than 1,500 high schools and 500 youth programs also use the caps.

The caps used by NFL players weigh about 11 ounces, about 4 ounces heavier than those used by college and high school players because professional athletes are generally bigger. Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver said he tried out the caps at the University of Houston, and jumped at the chance to wear the device again at the NFL level.

“You really don’t feel it,” Oliver said.

Guardian Innovations, the makers of the caps, won the inaugural Head Health TECH Challenge in 2017, a competition funded by the NFL to encourage innovations in equipment. This led to continued discussions and testing with NFL and NFLPA engineering consultants.

Erin Hanson, the owner and founder of Guardian Innovations, said she and husband Lee started the company because they knew they had a solution that could better protect players.

The caps are only allowed in practice and cannot be worn in games. But Miller wouldn’t rule out players wearing them on game day in the future.

For now, the hope of those at Guardian Innovations is that more NFL players will take advantage of the product and try it out.