Guardian Cap May Make Its Big Game Debut

Viewers who tune into Sunday's Super Bowl may notice a few players wearing what looks like a mushroom on their heads. The oversized, soft-shelled cap, called a Guardian Cap, is worn over a standard helmet and has been embraced by the NFL as a safety upgrade. The league says the gear has helped cut concussions in certain practice settings by more than half, and its endorsement has pushed use across all levels of football, per the New York Times. Guardian Sports, the Atlanta-area company behind the product, estimates about 500,000 players now wear the caps, from youth leagues to the pros. Some pro players, like Rams lineman Kevin Dotson and Patriots lineman Jared Wilson, have even started wearing them in games.

But the manufacturer itself pointedly avoids promising concussion protection. "No helmet, headgear or chin strap can prevent or eliminate the risk of concussions," its disclaimer states. Guardian Sports co-founder Erin Hanson says the goal of the caps, introduced in 2012 and embraced by the NFL a decade later, is to dampen the thousands of smaller hits linked to long-term brain damage, not to stop concussions outright. Though a study found concussions in preseason practices declined between 54% and 62% after the NFL required the caps to be worn, Guardian Sports says it hasn't been established that the caps were the reason.

Independent research backs only limited benefits: one study found a 9% reduction in "head impact severity," while a study of Wisconsin high school players found no association between cap use and lower concussion rates. Similarly, a small study of college players found the caps had "no on-field effect on head impact magnitude or frequency." Virginia Tech's helmet lab reported a 34% reduction in concussion risk with the Guardian Cap's NXT version, which has extra padding for players over 250 pounds, but only a 15% reduced risk with the mass-market XT version. Hanson previously told the Louisville Courier Journal that it's "really, really difficult" to "get a picture of what you're doing for long term health" from short-term studies with small sample sizes.