The NFL is expanding its mandate for the use of Guardian Caps in contact practices after positive findings from its first two years implementing the soft-shell helmet covers across several position groups.
Beginning with the 2024-25 season, wide receivers and defensive backs will be required to don Guardian Caps in contact practices, and there will be an option for players to wear them in games if desired. The caps were already required to be worn in contact practices by offensive/defensive linemen, linebackers, tight ends, running backs and fullbacks. Quarterbacks, kickers and punters will also have the option to wear them.
Data from the 2022 season, the first in which the NFL required the Guardian Caps in preseason practices, showed a 50% reduction in concussions within the position groups required to wear the covers compared against a three-year average of 2018, 2019 and 2021, according to the league (which excluded what it calls an “anomalous” 2020). The mandate was expanded to regular season contact practices in 2023, a year in which training camp concussions hit a seven-year low. The NFL also found that if one player was wearing a Guardian Cap at the time of a hit, the cover absorbed at least 10% of the force, while two players wearing the covers reduced impact by at least 20%.
