New head protection in the NFL: Always on the cap

The NFL starts this weekend and headgear is being used for the first time. Donald Trump believes this is a softening of men’s sport.

Practicing with a hood: NFL pros from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during training Photo: ZUMA Press/imago

When the Indianapolis Colts take to the field against the Houston Texans for the first NFL game next weekend, fans will have to get used to an unusual sight. At least two Colts players, tight end Kylen Granson and running back Jonathan Taylor, will be wearing foam caps on their helmets that make them look a bit like mushrooms.

But the somewhat strange look, which clearly breaks the usual martial appearance of NFL professionals, does not bother Granson and Taylor in the slightest. “At first, people also thought that seat belts looked silly,” Granson said on Instagram. “My health is more important to me than aesthetics.”

The foam caps are so-called Guardian Caps, head protection caps that are designed to prevent serious head injuries, similar to those worn by boxers during training. Up until now, wearing these caps was restricted to training, but this year they can also be worn during league games for the first time – but initially on a voluntary basis.

It is the latest in a series of regulations that have been introduced in recent years to make football safer. This year’s regulations include a ban on tackles in which a defender grabs a runner by the hip and throws him through the air; in the past, this included directly ramming opponents with the helmet; and it also included a ban on grabbing opponents by the chin guard of their helmet.

100 percent occupationally disabled

The NFL is trying to counter the growing criticism that it is wearing out its players’ health. Sports journalist Dave Zirin once estimated that a professional football player has a 100 percent risk of becoming disabled. A former player said in Zirin’s documentary “Behind the Shield” that football players skip middle age and go straight from youth to old men after their careers end.

The NFL has received the most criticism for how it is dealing with the spread of the brain disease CTE among former players. Since the early 2010s, studies have shown a connection between football and the degenerative brain disease, which affects up to 70 percent of players. It leads to severe depression, later dementia and even a dramatically increased susceptibility to suicide.

In 2018, the NFL finally recognized the connection and reached a settlement with the players. Around one billion dollars in compensation was paid out. However, this sum often did not reach those affected. Washington Post estimates that the association saved up to $700 million in payouts through bureaucratic stability and threats of litigation.

The debate about the long-term health damage caused by football has not abated. In recent years, new studies have been carried out that prove the harmfulness of playing football. One study, for example, proved that even the accumulation of minor brain injuries that are below the threshold of a concussion can trigger CTE.

Another study found a shocking number of long-term brain injuries among adults who had only played football as a youth. New statistics also show that players in certain positions suffer almost 800 blows to the brain per season, with the force of a serious road accident.

Trump and the rescue of men’s sports

That’s why the foam caps were tested in training for the first time in the 2022 season and are now being used voluntarily in games. But their effectiveness remains controversial. The NFL claims that up to 50 percent fewer concussions occurred when they were tested in training. However, experts criticize the NFL for not providing any data to support such a claim.

Independent studies have found that using Guardian Caps does not significantly reduce the force of impacts on the head and brain. One of the researchers, Nicholas Murray from the University of Nevada, advised investing the money in good trainers. “They are much more effective at preventing harmful collisions.”

It also seems as though the NFL is still more interested in giving the impression that it is making the game safer than actually changing anything. After all, there has been criticism for years from the political right that the sport needs to be tough and soft-spoken men who can take a beating.

Donald Trump personally complained that the NFL’s reforms were bowing to the left-wing media, which was already dismantling traditional ideals of masculinity. Trump’s supporters still largely overlap with the NFL’s paying customers, and the majority of them are not very happy about seeing foam mushroom helmets on the field.