2010: The Idea

In 1996, Erin and Lee Hanson founded The Hanson Group, a B2B supplier of chemical materials. Years later, in 2010, they were approached by industrial designer Bert Straus, best known for creating the ProCap, a padded helmet attachment worn by several NFL players decades earlier. Straus asked The Hanson Group to develop an integral skin foam for the ProCap’s cushioned outer layer.

The Hansons later traveled to Manhattan to present their product to NFL officials during a special committee meeting on helmet safety. But according to the Hansons, the league wasn’t ready to embrace the soft-shell technology.

2011: The Beginning

Erin and Lee decided that the biggest opportunity was in creating a one-size-fits-all product, rather than a model-specific add-on. So, they created a new design that allowed the Cap to float slightly above the helmet, rather than be fixed to it. This design is the Guardian Cap, and marks the beginning of Guardian Sports. The Guardian Cap, a soft-shell helmet cover designed to reduce impact, was born out of their mission to better protect athletes.

Throughout 2011, they poured Hanson Group resources into testing. Independent drop tests were conducted at facilities including Oregon Ballistic Laboratories, ICS Laboratories, and the Southern Impact Research Center. They also commissioned further evaluations to confirm that the Caps did not increase neck torque and that they maintained a lower coefficient of friction relative to the usual football helmet’s polycarbonate shell, to ensure that crucial “sliding” effect.

2013: First College Program

In 2013, the University of South Carolina became the first college program to put Guardian Caps into use. That spring, at a medical conference in Destin, Florida, Guardian founders Lee and Erin Hanson met Dr. Jeffrey Guy, a physician with South Carolina athletics. After reviewing the Caps’ testing data, Dr. Guy came away impressed and encouraged the football program to give them a try.

By that summer, the Gamecocks were wearing Guardian Caps in practice, future No. 1 NFL Draft pick Jadeveon Clowney included. Photos from those sessions provided the first real glimpse of the Caps on the field, sparking curiosity across the college football landscape. It wasn’t long before their in-state rival Clemson placed its own order.

2017: NFL Recognition

In April 2017, Guardian Sports earned national recognition when it was named a winner of the NFL HeadHealthTECH Challenge, a league-sponsored competition aimed at advancing player safety. The award came with $20,000 earmarked for biomechanical testing of Guardian Caps, a milestone that validated the Hansons’ mission and opened doors at the highest level of football.

The prize money never went directly to Erin and Lee; instead, it was routed to Biokinetics, an Ottawa-based laboratory that conducts helmet testing for the NFL. The data was then evaluated by Biocore, a biomechanical engineering firm in Virginia that serves as a consultant for the league on player equipment.

At the time, Guardian’s flagship product was the Guardian XT, a 7-ounce soft-shell helmet cover already in use by several major college programs and hundreds of high school teams. But when tested under NFL-specific conditions, designed to simulate the higher speeds and heavier impacts of the professional game, the XT didn’t show significant results. “We didn’t really find that it had much of an effect on the NFL impact environment,” explained Ann Bailey Good, a senior engineer at Biocore.

Rather than viewing this as a setback, the Hansons saw it as a direction. They went back to the drawing board and added an additional layer of padding, resulting in a thicker 12-ounce version: the Guardian NXT, with “N” standing for NFL.

2020: First NFL Team

The Jacksonville Jaguars became the first NFL team to wear Guardian Caps in 2020. Their adoption marked the beginning of professional football’s relationship with the technology.

2021: Increased Use

In 2021, a study published in Annals of Biomedical Engineering put Guardian Caps through rigorous NFL-level testing. Researchers from Biocore and the NFL Players Association simulated real game impacts, from helmet-to-helmet collisions to hits modeled after concussion-causing plays.

The results were clear: helmets fitted with the Guardian NXT reduced impact severity by 9%, compared to only 5% for a competing product, the ProTech. By using the Head Acceleration Response Metric (HARM)—a leading formula for measuring head impact severity—the study confirmed that Guardian Caps could help lower the risk of head injuries, especially for linemen.

These findings quickly reached the NFL’s Health and Safety Committee and Competition Committee, helping pave the way for Guardian Caps to gain traction at the highest levels of football.

2022: NFL Mandate

The NFL had tested Guardian Caps extensively and validated their benefits. The Summer of 2022, the league mandated Caps during practices for offensive and defensive linemen, linebackers, and tight ends, the positions most involved in high-impact collisions.

2023: Expansion at the Pro and High School Level

The NFL expanded it’s mandate to include running backs and fullbacks. Meanwhile, Guardian Caps reached a new milestone at the high school level when Park High School players wore Caps in live games, making them one of the first programs in the country to do so.

2024: Breakthrough Year

The 2024 season was a turning point. The NFL reported a 52% reduction in concussions among players at mandated positions compared to the three previous seasons of training camps without Caps. For the first time, players were also permitted to wear Guardian Caps in games.

This year also brought historic firsts

• James Daniels became the first NFL player to wear a Guardian Cap in a game
• De’Von Achane score the first touchdown while wearing a Guardian Cap

2025: Making History in College Football

The movement spread back to the college level in 2025, when Darris Smith became the first SEC player to wear Guardian Caps during a game, marking another step forward for player safety in one of the nation’s most competitive conferences.