Guardian Caps in the Media
NFL Permits Guardian Caps In Games
The NFL released its 2024 concussion data, showing the lowest numbers since tracking began in 2015. According to the league, there were 182 reported concussions during games and practices across the preseason and regular season, a 17% drop compared to 2023. As player safety continues to be a major focus, Guardian Caps have become part of the conversation.
During the 2025 season, seven NFL players from different teams have already worn Guardian Caps in live games.
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NFL uniforms have been marked by a distinct piece of equipment in recent years. Helmets have changed markedly over the years. The past was defined by leather-bound helms caked in brown and stitching. Quietly, there’s another manufacturer making waves for their contributions to hard hats.
Guardian Caps are increasingly commonplace in NFL circles, drawing praise from some and rebuke from others. Crafted by Guardian Sports — the brainchild of owners Erin and Lee Hanson — the caps are a critical, if understated part of players’ wardrobes during NFL Sundays.
When Jabrill Peppers takes the field on Sunday, the newly arrived Pittsburgh Steelers safety will become the team’s second player to don a Guardian Cap in game action.
Peppers was one of the first NFL players to embrace the extra helmet padding while with the New England Patriots last season. Now-former Steelers guard James Daniels was another.
Two of the Los Angeles Rams‘ largest players also have bigger helmets than the rest of their teammates. Well, sort of.
Alaric Jackson, big No. 77, and Kevin Dotson, No. 69, both have special protection on the outside of their standard helmets.
Doubs began wearing a Guardian Cap late in the 2024 season. He missed two weeks with a concussion that he sustained against the San Francisco 49ers. In his first game with the Guardian Cap, he had two receiving touchdowns.
Guardian Caps were first allowed to be worn on NFL practice fields in 2020. The first time players could wear Guardian Caps in games was 2024. Doubs took advantage, and he has stuck with it to begin the 2025 NFL season.
Doubs began wearing a Guardian Cap late in the 2024 season. He missed two weeks with a concussion that he sustained against the San Francisco 49ers. In his first game with the Guardian Cap, he had two receiving touchdowns.
Guardian Caps were first allowed to be worn on NFL practice fields in 2020. The first time players could wear Guardian Caps in games was 2024. Doubs took advantage, and he has stuck with it to begin the 2025 NFL season.
The National Football League announced today injury data for the 2024 season, which revealed a significant decrease in concussions. Key results include: a decrease in concussions to a historic low,1 including a 17% reduction compared to the 2023 season, including all practices and games in both the preseason and regular season, the largest safety improvement in helmets worn on field since 2021 and a continued reduction in lower-extremity strains for the 2024 season.
The NFL this season recorded its fewest number of concussions since it began tracking the data in 2015, the league announced Thursday.
The total of 182 concussions during games and practices in both the preseason and regular season represented a 17% drop from 2023. The previous low for the same time period was 187 in 2022, not counting the 2020 season when COVID protocols canceled the preseason.
Coaches from local high school football programs visited the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Thursday, June 13, 2024 where Mickey Loomis, Dennis Allen, Erik McCoy, Cam Jordan, Tyrann Mathieu, D’Marco Jackson, Nephi Sewell and Saints staff donated Guardian Caps to local high school football programs.
In a statement provided Friday to ESPN, Miller said: “We now have two years of data showing significant concussion reductions among players who wear Guardian Caps during practice, so players will be permitted to wear the cap during games this upcoming season. Additionally, there are new helmets this year that provide as much — if not more — protection than a different helmet model paired with a Guardian Cap. These developments represent substantial progress in our efforts to make the game safer for players.”
“It’s really become a norm here. The players know the Caps. They’ve seen the data, it works. The Guardian Caps have become another piece of equipment that they take to practice. You think about all the head impacts that we’re reducing from players wearing them, and it’s second nature now,” added Brendan Burger, equipment director of the Los Angeles Rams.
NFL players will be allowed to wear the protective Guardian Cap over their helmet in games this season if they want to, league officials said during a recent webinar. NFL chief administrative officer Dawn Aponte said during the panel that players will have the “option” to wear the padded helmet cover “if he so chooses.”
Every football player in the Park school district, from sixth grade on up, wears a Guardian Cap during every practice and game. The high school team first used them last season during practice, and prior to this season the National Federation of State High School Associations made them legal for games. At Park, Fryklund and activities director Phil Kuemmel took the next logical step in pursuit of safety.
He also said his Cloverdale program is bringing in new safety gear for the kids this year. “Now that the NFL and CFL have approved the use of helmet Guardian Caps for additional protection from head injuries, we have decided to include Guardian Caps for all our player helmets as well.” He said the caps will be worn for both practices and games.
The equipment is used by players all the way down to the youth level and is even used in other contact sports like ice hockey. It is meant to “reduce the impact of daily blows” and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said it has produced a “50 percent reduction in concussions” for those who wore it in training camp.
It’s not yet known whether any NFL players will take the league up on the offer to wear the modified headgear during any preseason or regular season games. Last fall, the Park Cottage Grove high school football team became the first in Minnesota, and perhaps first in the country, to wear the Guardian Cap during a real game.
According to the NFL, a player wearing a Guardian Cap could have the impact of a helmet hit reduced by at least 10 percent. Players both wearing the shell who collide on a helmet-to-helmet hit had the force of impact reduced by at least 20 percent.
No players will be required to wear the caps during games, but they now have the option to do so, according to the Associated Press. Botts said he is mandating that the students have to wear the caps for practice next season. “We have to make sure the kids are kept safe,” said Botts. “I wouldn’t be surprised if all levels mandate them sooner rather than later.”
“With that on the table, it’s a very real possibility that Monday Night Football could feature an entire offensive line unit, defensive line, linebackers, and tight ends (and even more positions) outfitted with Guardian Caps in the near future…It’s a shift toward a safety-first mindset that they league has been chirping about for decades.”
“The padding reduces the impact by up to a third. You’re slowing those G-forces down. People ask why don’t they put more padding inside a helmet. Think about a goal post. Do you want the inside padded or the outside padded? The padding is on the outside where it can slow the impact before it gets to the helmet below it. I want that energy to go around the helmet instead of going through the helmet.”
“Did you know NFL players can wear Guardian Caps during games in 2024? On today’s Cleveland Browns Podcast, we’re joined by the founder and president of Guardian Sports, Lee Hanson, and his son, Jake, the COO to discuss the protective head gear. Is it only a matter of time before the Guardian Caps become a standard piece of the NFL uniform?”
Video Coverage on Guardian Caps in the Media
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Better Protect Your Players with Guardian Caps
Caps in the media have been prevalent from training camps to practice photos. The Guardian Cap is the leading soft shell helmet cover engineered for impact reduction. It brings a padded, soft-shell layer to the outside of the decades old hard-shell football helmet and reduces impact of hits. Physics say that an outer “soft” material of the proper density, stiffness and energy absorbing properties reduces the initial severity of the impact. The hard shell then has lower forces transmitted to it, and in turn conveys lower forces to the interior soft helmet padding and then lower forces to the head.
