The Association of NFL and NFL Players approved for the first time the design of a position-specific helmet, since they began to regulate the equipment for players, confirmed on Tuesday the representatives of both groups.
The helmet, known as the VICIS ZERO2-R TRENCH, was built for offensive and defensive lines and is ranked 2nd in the league’s safety rankings in 2021. The helmets are equipped with bumpers on their front and top parts, where NFL engineering studies have shown that they are a common point of contact for line people who absorb contusion-causing contact, according to Dr. Ann Good, a senior engineer at BioCore and a consultant at the NFL.
The league and the union have ranked headphones based on patented safety data since 2015, using laboratory tests designed by BioCore, and began banning the lowest-performing headphones in 2019. The main goal was to reduce the total number of contusions among players, which peaked at 281 during the 2017 season. The 2021 ratings, distributed to teams on Tuesday, added three models to the banned list and six to a category called “not recommended.”
About 18% of players completed the 2020 season using one of the nine headset models. But Dr. Kristy Arbogast, an engineering consultant for the NFLPA, said her expectation is that almost everyone will move to a better-performing helmet in 2021. In each of the last two seasons, 99% of NFL players have used a helmet. . recommended by NFL / NFLPA ratings.
The NFL has not released its full concussion data from last season. But Jennifer Langton, the league’s senior vice president of health and safety innovation, said the concussion rates reported in the last three seasons (2018-20) are 25% lower than in the last three seasons (2015-17).
“With these results,” said Arbogast, “we were able to demonstrate [to players] that the use of a laboratory test in the classification of headphones and the prohibition of headphones were relevant to [players’] gaming experience. I showed this by moving up [ranking], players could really play an active role in their safety. “
It remains to be seen how many linemen will switch to the model built for them this season, but it is the first step in the NFL’s goal of stimulating manufacturers to produce models for each position group. Dr. Jeff Crandall, chairman of the NFL engineering committee and co-founder of BioCore, said there were some “basic tests” of models designed for quarterbacks. A model is likely to be finalized for future seasons, possibly in 2022, once an analysis of the new technology the NFL adopts for coach-to-quarterback communications is made.