Even the makers of the Guardian Cap admit it looks silly. But for a sport facing an existential brain-injury crisis, once unthinkable solutions have now become almost normal.

Late in his team’s game against the Green Bay Packers on September 15, Indianapolis Colts tight end Kylen Granson caught a short pass over the middle of the field, charged forward, and lowered his body to brace for contact. The side of his helmet smacked the face mask of linebacker Quay Walker, and the back of it whacked the ground as Walker wrestled him down. Rising to his feet after the 9-yard gain, Granson tossed the football to an official and returned to the line of scrimmage for the next snap.

Aside from it being his first reception of the 2024 National Football League season, this otherwise ordinary play was only noteworthy because of what Granson was wearing at the time of the hit: a 12-ounce, foam-padded, protective helmet covering called a Guardian Cap.

Already mandatory for most positions at all NFL preseason practices, as well as regular-season and postseason practices with contact, these soft shells received another vote of confidence this year when the league greenlit them for optional game use, citing a roughly 50 percent drop in training camp concussions since their official 2022 debut. Through six weeks of action this fall, only 10 NFL players had actually taken the field with one on, according to a league spokesperson. But the decision was easy for Granson, who tried out his gameday Guardian Cap—itself covered by a 1-ounce pinnie with the Colts logo to simulate the design of the helmet underneath—in preseason games before committing to wear it for real.

  • @[email protected]
    2•1 month ago

    I can only speak for myself, but my main problem is the culture and how these people become football players. They start from a very young age, and if I had kids, the thought of letting them destroy their developing mind like that for a sport would be completely out of the question.

    Instead, in some areas of the country, we have families that are pressuring their very young children to enter a sport that will affect their developing brain in profoundly negative ways.

    This isn’t only encouraged, it’s highly rewarded. College football coaches at big state schools, are often the highest paid public employee in their respective state.

    • HonkyTonkWoman
      3•1 month ago

      Once again, this is not society’s responsibility, it’s on the parents.

      Don’t want your child to become a roided up rage monster with CTE? Don’t raise them up to believe that sports is their only way forward.

      Sports are a path for SOME individuals & those individuals have the CHOICE to decide what is right for them & what isn’t.

      Yes family pressure exists, but so does individual choice & the two conflict every day. Hell, I’ve got boobs & a vag despite my parents protestations & I’m better off for it.

      For many of those individuals they only see sports as their path forward. Want them to find a better path? Show it to them…

      But don’t judge them when they strike out down a path you don’t approve of, if you aren’t willing to provide a better solution.

      Sitting here saying football shouldn’t exist because people get hurt is just lazy hand wringing & judgemental nonsense.