NFL’s New Position-Specific Helmets

The National Football League has been trying to fix its image as it relates to concussions and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, for the better part of two decades.¹  Along with trying to protect its image, the NFL has had vast numbers of lawsuits on the issue.  As of April 08, 2024, the Payable Monetary Award Amount resulting from NFL lawsuits due to concussions is $1,295,049,466.² That is why whenever news regarding helmets changes, it is typically a considerable deal legally. Any changes in player safety and helmet capacity can cause another player to join the over 25 thousand already in-class members who have sued the NFL.³

The NFL has tried to combat some of these problems with helmet innovations. Beginning in 2022 and 2023, the NFL started to develop position-specific helmets.⁴ In 2022, they were designed for linemen; in 2023, the position with the most eyeballs on it got its helmets. NFL executive Jeff Miller stated: “Last season, there were three approved models — two for linemen and one for quarterbacks. They were worn by nine quarterbacks and 20 linemen in total. Miller said those numbers were a ‘good start for quarterbacks’ but a little more modest than we would have liked’ for linemen.”⁵

So, despite the minimal transition to these helmets, the trend of players in these positions switching to these helmets is expected only to increase as the NFL and the NFL Players Association have approved eight new position-specific helmets for quarterbacks and linemen.⁶ Again, these helmets are for the linemen and quarterback position groups.⁷

The helmets manufactured by Riddell include two for quarterbacks, while six helmets are made for offensive and defensive linemen.⁸ Altogether, four more non-position-specific helmets were approved for next season.⁹ On April 9, the NFL posted the testing results, introducing not only these new helmets, but all of their approved helmets, too.¹⁰ Five of the new helmets tested better than any other helmet worn in NFL history, according to these tests, while 29 helmets that tested poorly are now prohibited to be used in NFL games.¹¹

All these changes only open the potential door to litigation. Many have already speculated as to when other position groups will get their own position-specific helmets, if they will even get them at all. Another apparent potential piece of ligation can come from the results of testing released by the NFL; for example, if a player had developed some head injuries that could have been prevented by one of these poorly performing helmets, could the NFL be held liable if they could test these helmets before? Nevertheless, as long as football is popular and thousands of people around the country are playing it, the black cloud that is concussions will continue to loom over it.

1. Head to Head: The National Football League & Brain Injury | NYU Langone Health ↩︎
2. Official NFL Concussion Settlement ↩︎
3. Id. ↩︎
4. NFL position-specific helmet options will more than double for ’24 – ESPN ↩︎
5. Id. ↩︎
6. NFL and its players’ union approve 8 new position-specific helmets for quarterbacks and linemen – Chicago Tribune ↩︎
7. Id. ↩︎
8. NFL and its players’ union approve 8 new position-specific helmets for quarterbacks and linemen | AP News ↩︎
9. Id. ↩︎
10. Helmet Laboratory Testing Performance Results (nfl.com) ↩︎
11. Id. ↩︎