Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce is not a fan of wearing the NFL’s new “Guardian Caps”.
The NFL Competition Committee mandated the use of these new “Guardian Caps” during training for offensive linemen, defensive linemen, linebackers and tight ends during training camp. This new safety measure would help fight concussions during the time of year when they occur most often.
According to the NFLWearing these softshells over helmets results in a significant reduction in impact in rear-end collisions. If only one player is wearing it, the severity of the impact is reduced by 10%. If two players wear it, it reduces the severity of the impact by 20%.
Players understand that these new measures have been taken with their safety in mind, but after wearing them to training camp for two weeks, Chiefs TE Travis Kelce is still not a fan.
“I think the guardian hats are ridiculous,” Kelce said. “We’re just here with mushroom helmets that do nothing but make our heads heavier. Hopefully we can get rid of them so we don’t have to wear them anymore.”
Part of the NFL’s reasoning behind mandating these caps is to help players adopt better habits, which can affect safer play during the regular season. Chiefs assistant HC and special teams coordinator Dave Toub don’t know if that will really be the case, but he thinks it will be worth it if the head injury lessens.
“I think it’s all right now,” Toub said. “I don’t know if it will develop habits. It’s only a few weeks we have to wear it. I think it’s a good thing if it prevents two or three head injuries that we would have had.”
For now, Kelce will face what appears to be a controversial piece of clothing among NFL players.
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Story originally appeared on Chiefs Wire
