NFL Will Allow Players To Wear Guardian Caps On Their Helmets This Season
The NFL will allow players the option to wear a ‘guardian cap’ in games beginning next season.
Now what exactly is a guardian cap?
Picture the Super Mario Bros. You know the small dude that was running around that looked like he had a mushroom on top of his head? Yup, that's Toad and that's what Commissioner Roger Goodell approved for the players to sport beginning later this year.
NOBODY IS GOING TO WEAR THAT
If any of you are reading this and want to make money - give me a call and let's design a more fashionable type of ‘guardian cap' and make millions because there isn't ANYONE who is going to wear that atrocity in the NFL.
Except Tua Tagovailoa. Because God knows Tua should after last season's medical debacles.
Players: Please get rid of artificial turf because it's causing too many injuries.
Roger Goodell: Absolutely not, but here's a brand-new helmet accessory no one asked for!
The guardian cap was first introduced during training camp in 2022 before expanding to practices last year. Everyone is supposed to wear it besides quarterbacks, kickers and punters during the week leading up to each game. Bizarrely enough, the NFL refused to allow players to wear the helmet if they wanted to during actual games last year. Were you aware of that? Yeah, me neither - which shows just how little of an outcry there was from players over it.
Last year, the NFL's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Allen Sills, said that the guardian caps "most likely" wouldn't make their way to actual games. Apparently, something changed with Goodell and the league reversing course by allowing players to wear them.
SAFETY VS STYLE
We are all aware that we should try to do everything we possibly can with the best technology available to help football players of all ages protect their bodies and most importantly, limit concussions. According to Goodell, these helmets have proven that by reducing concussions by about 50% during training camps. (Are there a lot of concussions happening during training camps by the way?) Regardless, this doesn't seem to be the answer.
The league should maybe have listened to Texans defensive end J.J. Watt who criticized the helmets and said that it made him feel like ‘a bobblehead,’ and that he was waiting to ‘fall over' due to the added weight on top of his head.
Who knows, maybe the NFL implemented these so they can call more helmet-to-helmet penalties or roughing the passer with the additional couple of inches that the helmet now adds. Collect those fines, Roger!,
We'll see in just a couple of months if players will choose safety over style. Something tells me they most likely won't.
DO YOU LIKE THE NEW GUARDIAN CAP HELMETS? DO YOU THINK PLAYERS WILL WEAR THEM? Email me: Michael.Gunzelman@OutKick.com or Tweet me: @TheGunzShow with your thoughts!