GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — If you’ve made it to any Green Bay Packers practices during training camp, you may have noticed some players are wearing an extra layer of protection on top of their helmets.
The soft-shelled, padded covering is called a Guardian Cap.
For the first time, the NFL is requiring certain position groups to wear them through practices up until the second preseason game.
The caps are required to be worn by offensive and defensive linemen, linebackers and tight ends.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur had everyone on the team try the caps on day one of camp.
Now, he’s only having the players required to wear the caps, wear them.
“I feel like we got igloos on our heads,” running back Aaron Jones said. “It’s a little heavy. At first you don’t notice it but after 30 minutes you’re like, ‘my neck,’ a little bit, but got to do what you got to do.”
Offensive lineman Yosh Nijman joked that the caps “look like mushroom tops on our heads.”
Linebacker Rashan Gary said it makes no difference to him. “I don’t really care about ’em. Football is football. Take it off, still got to hit.”
Players have had their fair share of ways to describe the new measure, but ultimately understand safety comes first.
“I think it might be the placebo effect because I’m hyper-focused on it since it’s new,” said running back AJ Dillon. “I’m like, did I really slip or was it the thing on my head? I don’t think it makes too much of a difference. It obviously looks cosmetically different but it’s one of those things, if it’s the rule then we’d play with them.
“The NFL and NFLPA, they’re trying to do a good job of prioritizing player safety, and I do see that,” Dillon added.
“It’s for safety, I think it’s important given that a lot of ex players in the NFL are going through CTE,” Nijman said. “I think it’s important we really focus on protecting the brains with the helmet during this vigorous hard game of hitting.”
“I think the intent is there. It is for player safety,” said LaFleur.
LaFleur understands the benefit, but mentioned a few concerns he said resonated with him after speaking with some colleagues in the league.
“When you do have that cushion on your helmet, and we’re making a huge emphasis with our coaches about this, I don’t want the guys to feel the confidence that now they could use their head,” he said. “So that’s one of the things that’s not so great about it is, you could get a false confidence and now their technique suffers.
“What happens when they take them off and now that they haven’t had that feeling of what it really feels like and now it’s live action? The research says it’s more effective so we’ll go with that.”
For now, the caps won’t make an appearance in games, but you’ll see them at practice until at least Aug. 19, when the New Orleans Saints are in town for the Packers’ second preseason game.
