The NFL and its players association have, for the first time, banned the use of 10 helmet models because of their poor performance in laboratory testing.
The ban was the result of an annual assessment which ranked how each helmet reduces head-impact severity when experiencing simulated concussion-causing forces. VICIS retained its top ranking, with its 2018 edition performing slightly better than the 2017 model.
The biggest news emanated from the bottom of the list, where the worst-performing helmets — made by manufacturers Rawlings, Schutt, SG Helmets and Riddell — were ruled ineligible for game play. Roughly 200 NFL players wore one of these now-banned helmets last season.
The NFL has already discontinued six helmet types, with the other four permitted for use in 2018 before mandatory cessation in 2019.
A total of 15 helmets received placement in the top-performing group of the leaderboard, among which there was no statistically significant difference in performance. Various models made by Riddell, Schutt and Xenith populated the remaining spots in the highest tier. The 34 helmets in the study included the models worn by 98 percent of NFL players last season.
“We’ve begun to see that over the last couple of years, players [are] moving from helmets that rank in the poorly performing areas to those that are ranging closer to the top-performing helmets,” Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of health and safety initiatives, said on a conference call with reporters. “We think that is an important move, and we think that will improve player health and safety. And the purpose of continuing to rank the helmets, and the purpose of the joint decision to prohibit certain helmets this year, is to increase that continued movement into better-performing helmets.”
Ottawa-based Biokinetics Inc. conducted the independent testing with the study’s design formulated by NFL and NFLPA engineering consultants. NFL engineering committee chair Jeff Crandall said the evaluation included the recreation of 24 on-field collisions, with helmets measured on how they “manage the forces” players are likely to endure.
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SportTechie Takeaway
This news follows a 2017 NFL season with 291 diagnosed concussions, a 16 percent increase on the previous season and the highest in the past six seasons of recorded data. Put another way, that’s nearly a tenth of the league (roughly 9 percent), prompting chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills to say how “disappointed” the league was in the number and how it views this as a “challenge.”
One of the points of emphasis for lowering the number of head injuries, Sills said, was to address the protective equipment players use, and this winnowing of poor performing helmets is an important first step in that process. While helmets themselves may not protect against concussions very well — they protect the skull more than the brain — that shouldn’t stop the NFL from making sure its players have the best available equipment– even incremental improvements in diffusing head impacts and forces can only be a good thing.
