Guardian Caps | XT vs NXT
What’s the Difference between the Guardian Cap XT vs. NXT?
Ever wonder about the difference between a Guardian Cap XT vs NXT? For over a decade, collegiate football programs have relied on the Guardian Cap XT to provide an extra layer of protection during practices. Its success on the field even played a role in influencing the NFL’s decision to mandate Guardian Caps.
As the game continues to evolve, so do the demands on athletes—bigger, stronger players require even more advanced protection. That’s why we developed the Guardian Cap NXT, specifically designed for collegiate and professional athletes who need that extra impact reduction. The NXT has additional padding to the back strap of the Cap as well as padding to the interior of the Cap for faster and harder hits. This extra padding in turn creates a little bit of added weight to the Cap, which is why we only recommend the NXT for College and NFL athletes.
The Guardian Cap XT is a product that has been trusted for over a decade by hundreds of thousands of athletes from college down to youth, and tested by Virginia Tech, Stanford, and dozens of other studies. The Guardian Cap NXT is the top-performing helmet add-on via independent testing from the NFL and Virginia Tech. Guardian Caps are the only add-on allowed on NFL fields because of their testing.
Guardian Cap Testing
NFL testing at Biocore Labs on Guardian Cap NXT
A peer-reviewed study conducted by NFL-appointed engineers led to the NFL’s initial mandate of Guardian Caps during practice in 2023. Data compiled by the NFL in 2022 showed that Guardian Caps absorbed 11-12% of force when a player was hit in the helmet by a player without a Guardian Cap. If two players involved in a helmet-to-helmet hit both wore the caps, the impact of the collision dropped by 20%. Referenced here.
Stanford Study on Guardian Cap XT
In this study, Stanford evaluated the impact attenuation capabilities of a commercially available padded helmet shell cover in the laboratory and on the field. The addition of the padded helmet shell cover was effective in attenuating the magnitude of angular head accelerations and two brain injury risk metrics (DAMAGE, HARM) across most laboratory impact conditions. Overall, HARM values were reduced in laboratory impact tests by an average of 25% at 3.5 m/s (range: 9.7 to 39.6%), 18% at 5.5 m/s (range: − 5.5 to 40.5%), and 10% at 7.4 m/s (range: − 6.0 to 31.0%).
Rutgers Clinical Study on Guardian Cap XT
Football has many positives: leadership, discipline, teamwork, a sense of belonging, but it’s also a collision sport. That means that parents and players have the tough task of deciding whether the rewards outweigh the risks.
At Guardian Sports, we have many former NFL players who come into our office and tell us that they would 100% play again, but they would reduce any of the risks they could. That’s why they make sure their sons wear Guardian Caps and practice better tackling techniques. The middle school team in the study linked did the same – they used impact monitors, learned safe tacking techniques, and added Guardian Caps. No team can prevent all injuries, and no equipment can prevent concussions, but reducing up to 33% of the impact players experience to the head and other body parts can’t hurt and probably helps. The AMA recommended in 1968 that helmets have an exterior padding to prevent the helmet from being used as a weapon. So, while Guardian Caps can’t make the decision of whether it’s safe to play, Caps can provide a solution that’s been tested and proven to reduce some of the risk.
Virginia Tech Helmet Labs on Guardian Cap XT and NXT
Various football programs have incorporated the use of helmet shell add-ons, which add padding to the exterior of a helmet shell. To gain insight into this issue, Virginia Tech employed its established varsity football helmet testing procedure to evaluate the effect of several helmet shell add-ons currently being used. They tested the Guardian Cap XT and the Guardian Cap NXT (which is the NFL version). The aim was to quantify any reductions in linear and rotational acceleration, concussion risk, and the impact these factors had on our overall STAR score.
