NFL Chief Medical Officer Says Guardian Caps Not Coming To Games

Jul 02, 2023

by Matt Reigle August 11, 2023, 6:49 pmupdated August 12, 2023, 8:12 am

A lot of fans are going to breathe a sigh of relief after hearing the NFL’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills assure us that guardian caps likely won’t be seen during games.

The puffy-looking helmet-toppers serve a great purpose in keeping players safe from traumatic injuries on the practice field, but let’s face it, they look ridiculous.

They make players look like a Toad from Super Mario Bros. doppelgänger. or like everyone glued a bunch of Jet-Puffed marshmallows to their brain buckets.

Anywho, it seems as though they’re going to stay relegated to practice. At least that’s what Dr. Sills The Pat McAfee Show.

Dr. Sills said that when guardian caps started being used in practices, the league had access to a lot of data from college programs. However, that sort of data doesn’t exist for in-game use.

"I don't think the future of the NFL is guardian caps in games.. We're trying to learn how can we design a better helmet to make it safer and there's more work to be done there" ~ Dr. Allen Sills#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/WcGF4nQQS1

“Obviously, we’re trying to continue to learn about it. We’re looking a lot this year at joint practices where they are used and trying to understand,” Dr. Sills said.

However, it seems this information will go toward advancements in helmet tech as opposed to just slapping some guardian caps on the current lids and calling it a day.

Dr. Sills even said he doesn’t think the future of football safety lies in guardian caps.

“I don’t think the future of the game is about a guardian cap per se,” Dr. Sills continued. “I think what we can learn from that is how can we design a better helmet, what are the materials that may make the helmet safer, and more importantly how do we not use the head.”

McAfee threw out his own idea for how to collect data on in-game guardian cap usage: make the XFL do it.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.

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