While it’s no secret that football is a contact-heavy sport, what goes on behind the scenes to protect the players often goes under the public’s radar. 

According to the BBC, in 1952 a study revealed that a player shouldn’t continue to play after sustaining three concussions due to the significant cognitive decrease. In 2015, a neuropsychologist argued that stating a specific limit would make players reluctant to admit to their symptoms which could cause detrimental issues down the road from undetected concussions. And finally, in 2023, the NFL recognized the severe decline in cognitive functions in players who suffered three or more concussions.

Currently, the NFL is starting to encourage players to wear a “guardian cap,” which is a special set of protective padding that can be added on top of a standard helmet. The purpose of the guardian cap is to absorb 10% of the impact which would put the player at less risk for a concussion.

According to ProFootballTalk, the NFL says that the guardian cap, “can reduce the force from head contact up to 20% when both players involved in a head-on collision wear them, but only a 10% reduction when one player wears one. 

According to an NFL research compilation across all 32 teams, “there’s been an eye-popping decline of 52% in concussion incidence reporting during preseason practices since the devices were mandated.” Yet despite the dramatic success, it’s not translating to wild adoption on game days where they are elective.

While some players wore the cap during pre-season and kicked it to the curb during the regular season, Indianapolis Colts player Kylen Granson was among the first to debut the new precaution during a regular season game. 

“Anything I can do to mitigate any sort of brain injury or long-term health effects that would be detrimental to me takes precedent,” he went on to tell People Magazine. 

“I’m going to get married this coming year. I want to be able to remember our first dance 30 years from now. I want to be able to remember my first kid’s steps, I want to be there at their first day of school,” he said in addition to the safety measure aspect.

In contrast to Granson, Tua Tagovailoa, the Miami Dolphins quarterback, suffered a crushing third NFL concussion during the game on Sept. 12, but his fourth overall due to one during college ball. He decided against wearing the guardian cap. His prior two NFL concussions occurred four days apart back in 2022, and while advised to stay out of the game, like a true athlete he came back for more. 

Mad props to the Miami Dolphins head coach, Mike McDaniel, who is more concerned about Tagovailoa’s healing journey than throwing him back out on the field, a rarity in sports. It’s no secret that with big-money contracts and pressure to perform, athletes downplay their inability to play and are eager to get off the injured reserve (I.R.).

While it’s true that blood, mud and turf stuck in the helmet are badges of honor on the field, are some players so consumed with visual appeal that they are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice when they have the option to protect themselves?

Vanity is still reigning supreme. So far, it’s only a few athletes, seven to be exact, that have stepped up and declared safety over swagger in sporting the guardian caps.

There are currently six new guardian cap models in development. No doubt product designers and high-priced creative agencies are in bidding frenzies to win a crack at crafting the cap that will check all of the boxes with swagger and fan adoption near the top.

According to an article in the New York Times, a player is only removed from the game “If a player is observed or reports one of the following “no-go” symptoms, and will not be allowed to return:

• Loss of consciousness
• Ataxia (abnormality of balance/stability, motor coordination, or dysfunctional speech)
• Confusion
• Amnesia

All sports leagues and even school districts have a return-to-field concussion protocol. What schools don’t have is a return-to-learn protocol that addresses the whole student with an emphasis on healing and well-being, not academics.  

To remedy that, as a Sage Creek student who has suffered 4 concussions, I created my Genius Project called the official Return to Learn Concussion Protocol to help others who suffered a concussion like me. The protocol will be accessible to any student who experiences a concussion or other brain injury whether it happened during a school sport or not. The goal of the protocol is to shift emphasis from getting back to play to getting back on their feet literally. 

As of right now, other than typical 504 accommodations, there isn’t a support protocol in place that addresses students back to school with the same full workload students were saddled with before their concussion and no accommodations to help them not drown in the sea of assignments.

The good news is that be it high school or the big leagues, finally the priority is becoming the player over play. 

As this article goes to print, Tua Tagovailoa is already back on the practice field taking snaps and has come out and said he is not wearing the guardian cap.

What will it take for the NFL to pick players over profits? Will players be draft dodgers if the guardian caps become mandated?