What are Guardian Caps? NFL’s latest head protection device makes debut at training camp

In March 2022, NFL club owners passed a resolution that mandates using Guardian Caps during certain portions of the training camp when concussions and head contact typically elevate.

The resolution makes using padded helmets mandatory for several positions during the offseason. The league will collect and analyze data to make iterations to improve the helmet, which will, in turn, help improve safety standards for the players.

What are the new Guardian Caps? What positions will have to wear the helmets during the offseason?

According to the NFL:

"The Guardian Cap is a padded covering that goes over the shell of a helmet. When worn, the Guardian Cap results in at least a 10% reduction in severity of impact if one player is wearing it, and at least a 20% reduction in impact if two players are wearing them."

This isn't the first time NFL teams have used Guardian Caps. The Los Angeles Rams used the helmets during practice last season. Padded helmets have also been used at the high school level for quite some time.

They will be widely worn and tested during "all 2022 preseason practices up until the second preseason game." All offensive linemen, defensive linemen, tight ends, and linebackers will be required to wear the new helmets during practice sessions when the concentration of helmet impact severely rises.

NFL Network released a video to give a closer look at the new padded helmets and explain how they work. Dr. Jeff Crandall, chair of the NFL's engineering committee, said in the video:

"That padding is intended to reduce the severity of impact by reducing the forces and motions that eventually make it through the head."

Rams offensive lineman David Edwards also made an appearance in the short clip. He said:

“I think that you’re always trying to be as safe as possible when you’re playing this game. Any little thing that can prevent injuries or make the game safer, why not try it?”

The 25-year-old shared his experience with the helmets he wore last season, stating he did not feel the vibrations after impact as much.

“Wearing the Guardian Cap is ultimately going to keep you safer."

The unnamed company that developed the padded helmets was the recipient of the first HeadHealthTECH innovation challenge series in 2017. Also known as the NFL Helmet Challenge, the aim was "to stimulate the development by experts, innovators and helmet manufacturers of a new helmet for NFL players that outperforms, based on laboratory testing, all helmet models currently worn by NFL players."

Since 2017, the company has worked closely with the NFL and the NFLPA to test and evolve the design of a cap that enables it to withstand the impact players experience on the field.

According to the NFL, a vast amount of data collected and analyzed by the league helped it understand the "biomechanics of head injury and simulate that in a laboratory environment."