The NFL has prohibited seven different helmet models for the 2025 regular season following the league’s annual laboratory testing and analysis in conjunction with the NFL Players’ Association.
Three models have been moved into the ‘not recommended’ category. Players who wore ‘not recommended’ helmets – just 2% of the league – between 2021-2024, per the NFL, were 35% more likely to suffer a concussion.
Meanwhile, 10 of the highly recommended helmets can now be used without the need for additional guardian caps because they tested so well, NFL executive vice president for player health and safety Jeff Miller said Friday.
Players, outside of a few select positions, are mandated to wear guardian caps during training camp and practices. Guardian caps were permitted for game use last season.
Last season was ‘a seminal year and a huge step forward in helmet technology and the options available to players,’ Miller said. Nonetheless, the league still has hopes of moving approximately 27% of its players into better-performing helmets prior to the start of the season; that contingent currently uses models that are neither recommended nor prohibited. The engineering work is a joint effort between the experts in the league office and the union.
The NFL would like to outlaw the worse-performing helmets sooner, but the players’ union values its members’ choices, and Miller said the league ‘leans a bit more towards a mandate.’
Before the Super Bowl, the league said concussions had decreased 17% between the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The NFL attributed much of that to the revamped kickoff rule, which led to more kickoffs being returned while keeping the number of concussions on the play the same (8) year-over-year.
