The NFLPA and NFL have announced that five new NFL helmets have passed inspection at a rating that has never been seen before. They are rated better than any other helmet in the league, showing innovation and emphasis in player safety going into the 2024 season. These five designs will join a total of 12 new helmet models that players can wear this upcoming season.
In fact, some of the helmets are rated so high, that they will no longer require padded protection during practices, a common complaint among players.
More Position-Specific Helmet Designs Available
Football is a game where, depending on the position, a player has a completely different experience than any other player. A lineman, for example, takes head-to-head contact hits every single play in a short-distance but powerful collision. On the contrary, receivers don’t take as much contact every play but are certainly put in the most susceptible situations of anyone on the field. The list goes on and on, but until 2022, there weren’t any position-specific helmets.
Following 2022, when the reviews of O-line and D-line-specific helmets were created, the league has since added other helmets, including some for the quarterback. These designs are created to handle the violent hits a player playing a specific position may take.
Mike Miller, NFL Executive VP over Player Health and Safety, shared the following:
” The growing availability of position-specific helmets is a central part of our effort to provide players with the best possible protection for their position. Quarterbacks and linemen will have a range of tailored helmets available to them with more positions to come in the next couple of years.”
Six Helmets Prohibited For 2024
A few years ago, helmets such as the Xenith X2E, Riddell Speed Classic Icon, and Riddell Revolution IQ were considered top-of-the-line technology. However, the NFL has now prohibited these three, along with three others. While many players always opt for the newer and deemed safer styles, some older players struggle to let go of a helmet they’ve grown accustomed to.
It is no longer a choice for a player like Saints star WR Alvin Kamara. Kamara has used the Schutt Vengeance Z10 helmet for years, but unfortunately, for him and other players around the league, it will not be allowed in 2024.
We're raising the standard for helmet safety, introducing 5 new models that tested better than any helmet worn before.
As part of our annual helmet lab testing with the @NFL, 12 new helmet models will be available to players in 2024, including 8 new position-specific helmets. pic.twitter.com/MIMYc28yjM
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) April 9, 2024
Controversy Surrounding NFL Helmet Safety
As with every other issue in the NFL and sports in general, the news doesn’t come without controversy. Some fans and players feel that by rating a helmet as ‘safer,’ they are actually inviting players to play more dangerously, with the idea that they can take or deliver more of a hit without a negative health or injury consequence.
On the flip side, some fans feel that with safer NFL helmets, more freedom and fewer penalties for hard hits involving the helmet should come. Last year, a record number of penalties involved a player either getting hit in the head or using the head to make a hit. Critics of these calls say that if helmets are being made safer, leniency in the rules should also be followed.
Regardless, what is clear, is that the NFL is focusing and investing in the safety of the players.
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