ABC News’ Alex Presha reports on the major change to player safety as the NFL allows players to wear soft shell caps on helmets during the regular season.
Subscribe to ABC News on KZhead: abcnews.visitlink.me/59aJ1G
Watch 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events on ABC News Live: • LIVE: Latest News Head...
Watch full episodes of World News Tonight with David Muir here: • ABC World News Tonight...
Read ABC News reports online: abcnews.go.com
ABC News Digital is your daily source of breaking national and world news, exclusive interviews and 24/7 live streaming coverage. ABC News is the home to the #1 evening newscast “World News Tonight” with David Muir, “Good Morning America,” “20/20,” “Nightline,” “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, “ABC News Live Prime” with Linsey Davis, plus the daily news podcast “Start Here.”
---
Connect with ABC News on social media:
Facebook: / abcnews
Instagram: / abcnews
TikTok: / abcnews
X: / abc
Threads: www.threads.net/@abcnews
LinkedIn: / abcnews
We are concerned about safety, so we've added 2 games to our season over the last 5 years.
And made 2 Thursday night games a week
STFU we wanted those 2 more games and maybe a extra playoff week
they changed kickoffs
I would support adding another bye week for players' safety and another game.
The players wanted the extra game too?? U stupid or what?
That drop tackle rule is gonna cause a lot of controversial game changing flags this year... U watch.
Just another way to change the course of the game like they do with flags already . Example : 3rd and 10 and the team has an incomplete pass but needs a first down , now in the league a pass interference comes out and it’s automatically a first down ……. But it takes contact to the get the call , now they can rule any tackle someone dropped their hip . FUCKIN stupid
that's the point - give the refs even more control over the outcome. Way too much money at stake to leave it completely up to chance.
Agree
@@joeg5414 I'll die of old age before we have a sky judge in the NFL. It's insane. We've had instant replay for decades and we're still relying on some dudes in their 40s to make calls. IT'S LITERALLY ON TAPE.
Perfect for the gambling addict refs huh
Just let them play flag already
🤣
The NFL needs to start a flag football league for average guys who played the game for fun. These average guys will go from playing for fun to playing in front of some fans and for money.
@@keelychow4569no
1:20 important to note it was like -20 degrees making the helmet way more brittle from thr cold
The media doesn’t like to speak the truth they always like to over hype everything
6 yrs of tackle football. The caps are a great idea and don't take away from the game. Now the hip drop rule.....tf?
Cue the people who have never played a single down in football complaining that guardian caps look dumb and are ruining the game 🙄
Many former players say these caps look dumb. And they Do.
Special Olympics 😂
@vtown5630 Roblox and Minecraft looking Helments.
They DO look dumb, but I’m sure they could improve the aesthetics with relatively little effort…….🤔
A ton of players current and former have complained about the guardian caps and think they very possibly are less safe. Sooooo..... maybe you should do some research, buddy.
I haven’t watched a football game for some years now…including the “Super Bowl”. I grew up watching the NFL during the eighties and nineties. It’s just not the same game anymore
Back in the days it was Joe cool. You probably miss The Brady show. Now it's the Mahommes.
@@user-er3ri6sc3j more like Joe Montana, Phil Simms, Troy Aikman, and Brett Favre show
nfl is more of a joke than any time in its history.
@@user-er3ri6sc3j actually it’s more like the Joe Montana, Phil Simms, Troy Aikman, and Brett Favre show
@@antoniodiego9357 Did I miss Mark Rypien?
I’m done with the nfl. Now the refs can call bs calls in tackles
Its been rigged for years 😂 Money is all that matters now
@Skateandcreate9 money is at the job if you are able bodied
@@marks5923stupid is as stupid does 🤓 🖕
See ya on opening season with a beer 😂
Who cares if you’re done: they’ll make billions. You’ll continue to be a loser.
They don’t hit like they do in games in practice the science isn’t accurate
They don’t back their claims by science anymore it is stupid
logic
What don’t you get? You will NEVER prevent concussions with helmets. They do their job. Which is prevent skull fractures. But as long as there is a sudden change in velocity, positive or negative. The brain will always smash against the inside of the skull…..concussion!
So you missed the part were there was a 50% decrease in concussion over 2 years when tried and tested? You clearly don't know what you're talking about. They've been using a similar thing in rugby and concussions are way down
@@Neckoyathat 50% has more to do with the fact that NFL players don’t practice nearly as much as they used too. When they do practice, contact is limited in every way it can be these days. The science is fraudulently.
Extra padding sure seems like it will lower acceleration to me.
You're an idiot then. Pads can help decelerate to make the impact less sudden and violent. Just like punching a mattress vs a solid object is so much different due to the give of the mattress decelerating object over a longer period of time.
Remove all gears like rugby. Safer.
padded helmets just means they will go harder and injury other parts of the body
How enlightened this group is! They have only been crippling players for a few decades what’s the hurry?
Lmfao but they don’t look cool.
Name three crippled players.
@@andrearel3703chucky Mullins
Noone is forcing these guys to be gladiators
@@andrearel3703mike utley, chris spielman & reggie brown. that’s just from the detroit lions
The tackle rule is lame if it's so open to interpretation they might not call it but then they can't check the replay afterwards. That seems more performative rather than purposeful.
Make it 2 hand touch already but still pays the cry babies millions.
This is what happens when you leave gigantic holes in the PED Net so you can get Mega QBs.
And look who's broken and crying..... It's YOU 😂😂😂😂
There was guy on the bills back in the 90's that wore one , nothing new...
I don’t feel so bad about not making it to the NFL now
Because it’s getting less blatantly violent and unsafe? I swear you westerners are so drunk on the blood and violence of your government that you absolute seethe when your cope outlet gets safer. Y’all are straight up embarrassments to humanity. You’re like cavemen.
Should’ve been done after the concussion/CTE data came out.
Okay mark 😂 I think that’s the reason they allowed it.
The NFLPA represents players who don't necessarily embrace change. The 2 or 3 year grandfathering of poor testing helmet models has their fingerprints all over it.
That is not the reason his helmet shattered
The national flag football league is upon us
I can now picture a bunch of average guys who played flag football for fun now playing in front of some fans and for money.
it's only going to be even more ridiculous
You may as well make it flag football now.
Agreed!
doing everything except stopping slamming into each other lol
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Just bubble wrap the players. Just play touch NFL.
We're at the early stages of flag football coming. I give it about 20 years from now. I will be dead and gone but I got very lucky because I was born in the 70's. The Football 🏈 game now has changed so much that it makes me appreciate even more those men back in the day!
@@user-fi5zl1vc1c no one will watch that. We’ll all swap over to soccer if they try flag football.
@@mr.doctorcaptain1124 The left are producing sissy men by the thousands today. There's a market for this silly crap.
They secretly tried that a few years ago but too many Players/Millionaires were complaining about sore fingers.
I think this will inadvertently cause the hits to become harder because of a false sense of security. Maybe just get rid of the gear altogether so players will be more conscious about launching themselves full tilt on another person.
With the new kickoff rule and safety protocols this year, this next season will look a whole lot differently
The new kickoff rule will take some time to adjust to which I will probably be ok with but the guardian caps on during seasonal games , playoff games , and the Superbowl ?! What the hell were they thinking
Sarcastaball
The hip drop rules going to be a nightmare
Might as well wrap pillows around them two for safety lol
1:15 the playoff hit was not so powerful as it looked it was -20 that day with a windchill of -27 causing the plastic to absorb the hit like any other hit and even if it wa wa hard it the helmet absorbed it like it was supposed to and finally a quote heard a lot “You mean the mushroom tops” Travis Kelce
get commissioner a55 out of here
Can't wait to her Jack Lambert's opinion of this !
No drop tackles lol
Drop tackle rule is dumb, player with ball should just go down when he’s wrapped up. If he continues to fight for extra yards then injury is the risk.
Its about the drop tackle where they all on their legs bro you are running and before you know it your legs are getting took from under you
@@98slime86 drop tackle is where the defense player wraps up the ball carrier then uses his body weight to bring player down. Its the only way you can drop tackle therefore the player with the ball could just go down instead of fighting. You see this all the time even when it’s not a drop tacke a player is wrapped up by 3 defenders and still trys to fight for more yards. Just go down. I get it’s natural instinct to want to fight for more yards but these stupid rules are ruin the game in my opinion. I mean what is a defense player supposed to do? You can’t use loweer your head and now you can’t use your body weight. It’s basicly flag football.
@@mikelasalvia9548 bro lookup what i said its the hip swivel drop tackle that got banned you can still drop your weight for a tackle do your homework bruh
@@mikelasalvia9548 its only the drop tackle where the runner legs LITERALLY gets pinned its no arguing that tackle is much more riskier its literally a youtube vid showing the difference and its very clear do your research actually i suggest you watch the rugby explanation video it cleared it up very much for me “NRL what is and what isnt a hip drop tackle”
@@98slime86Bro i know what a drop tackle is yes its when you don’t use your legs but drop your body weight and yes you can use your legs along with your body weight. I dont like the rule thats my opinion now go away and troll someone else
People complaining about the gear. Nobody will care once the game gets underway. It's the sport people want to see.
They better at least customizable so you can still see the design for example the Bengals stripes 2:23
Just get rid of the "protection" pads, teach players to tackle with their arms and shoulders and not their heads
I'm out. I'm not watching bobbleheads play.
I'm not a sports watcher anymore because of politics, but I heard about this from my brothers. We all have played football. The "drop tackle" rule is another anti-masculine absurdity. Now, a game-saving tackle can be a game-destroying tackle.
Get off my lawn guy says " bring back the leather helmets back " like the 4 horsemen wore !!!!
I saw something that said that protection like this does nothing for concussions. At least in boxing.
Boxing is different, the head gear protects from cuts not concussion
These things look ridiculous
Clearly the opinion of someone that has never played or known someone who has played football.
Clearly, how ridiculous they look shouldn’t be taken into account about why or why not to wear them. If they help prevent head injuries and their favorite players miss less games, fans will get over it. In 10 years, everyone will look back on this discussion and ask why the commissioner didn’t start using them sooner.
@@DreadedLad88 ooohh that offends me so much 😱😂
@@ayalave75 You’d be surprised how much presentation influences revenue
It will be years for this to be come the norm, unless the NFL makes this mandatory. Like the NHL and hockey facemasks, some players will think that it will make them seem un-manly.
While they're at it they should wear bras too.
Every defensive player on every Team will be wearing these from now on. Anything that chews up even a couple inches of real estate in a QB or potential receiving players vision making it harder to see, or find the ball in the air is an advantage for them.
Hip drop tackle rule could legitimately be the end of the NFL. I'm not exaggerating, they made an insanely dumb decision by putting that in the game. The game was already ruled by Flags everywhere every single game, every single opportunity the rest could throw a flag that threw a flag last year now it's going to be three times as many flags and no defense being played.
This doesn't stop the brain from hitting the skull. It doesn't reduce concussions or cte.
Why are we using the Mahomes hit to illustrate a point that could have been illustrated by countless other actual examples of head trauma? In that instance the helmet failure was due to the extreme cold conditions, not the force of impact. Neither player walked away with a concussion from that play either.
It was definitely still due to the impact 😂 crazy thing to say no one elses helmet magically broke
@@98slime86 well the impact combined with the conditions sure. But under normal circumstances that hit was not breaking a helmet.
@@drawkcab9731 true im js the impact still played a part
Big fan of the guardian caps but the hip drop tackle rule is completely ridiculous.
That’s completely stupid!
F1 fans hated the halo when it was first introduced, but eventually they got used to it and it's a now looking back, it's amazing people ever drove without it.
Guardian caps are a fantastic addition to the game. Banning drop tackles on the other hand... I'm gonna take more overs than unders with that change.
The hip drop tackle rule would be needed if they would punish players who INTENTIONALLY hurt players in the tackle process. And coaches who teach players to do so.
That drop tackle is how Bo Jackson got injured
Both of these kind of helmets and the way they play the game doesn't need to change at all ever!
The mahomes hit was as bread and butter as it gets. It was just -100°F
So the Pro Bowl is now a flag football game, players now wear guardian caps, and no more drop tackles. It has truly become a sissy league. It is turning into the Ice Capades!
It's all about protecting offensive players.
The helmet additions look a lot like the INSIDE of a 1980s hockey helmet.
South Park “sarcastiball” really coming to life
This is dumb, the NFL is getting softer & softer by the day
During practice the players aren't playing at full steam. This "Data" is flawed.
Love it. They look weird but we’ll get used to it. Easy way to add additional protection
The drop tackle thing is ridiculous, you’re supposed to get the guy on the ground. I don’t understand how it’s illegal to do that. It’s ridiculous.
It’s a helmet on top of a helmet…
They are expanding the season length in preparation for team expansions! And the new safety protocols are okay with me.
Drop tackle is gonna cause problems
They should add this to NHL gear aswell
That drop tackle not being allowed is stupid so if any player cuts a corner you best just stop the chase and let him run to the end zone
Olympic Swimmers are allowed to wear life jackets during races as well..😂
So players killing themselves because of cte is funny?
@@thedarksideoftheforce6658 it will be flag football before you know it. Players need to tackle a different way instead of using or leading with their helmets . Rugby is played with no helmets or equipment
Helmets for helmets!
I think it's smart. . but hip drop that's going to be hard to tackle if they get get by a defender and all they get is a hand around got no choice but to hip drop .
In the Australian National Rugby League competition, 'hip drop tackles' were banned before the 2023 season began.
Interesting....only because I dont follow rugby like that.
How do they tackle without it?
Hopefully players and teams get on board, and mostly hopefully the audience don’t be jerks about it. Enjoying or loving a sport should mean you want players’ safety to be important and for folks to not be seriously injured. Concussions can be life-altering. Many of these purposeful intent to injure by taking another player out have cause serious or life-altering injuries.
To all those people asking for years, why the padding was not on OUTSIDE of the helmet, you were right!
Why cant the foam go inside a bigger helmet?
There is already similar padding inside the helmet but that isn’t what the guardian cap is meant to do. The guardian caps are meant to reduce the impact of hard shells colliding. Therefore putting in in the helmet would do nothing.
The football I grew up on doesn’t exist anymore
Put any helmet you want on it will never stop your brain from rattling against your skull.. either get rid of physical contact or stop pretending to care about the players health
Garden State vibe!
What less injuries soften the ground
Good way to get all the older guys who still watch to quit
Adding more games to the schedule could be another contributor? 😂 oh, I forgot nothing more important than money.
Thanks a heap gooddell for ruining the NFL...smh
They'll be probably inplemet the cap into the helmet before the season
What’s next ? Players will be wrapping themselves in bubble wrap 😂
Someone who actually played football I’m fine with it. It doesn’t really affect the game at all. It’s just a different helmet. Looks different, but ok.
I’m actually in favor of these changes… If the data regarding Guardian caps is good and it does reduces the amount of concussions, I say go for it. Regarding the hip drop tackle, I think it’s worth trying out for at least a season to see how things go.
So it reduces concussions by 50 percent but it’s not mandatory??? And why are concussions up in the first place… can’t hit in knees ankles or hips anymore so now we target shoulder/torso. What’s above the shoulder, the head. Also need to look into penalties for offensive players dropping their heads like they have been doing for the defense the last few years.
The season is long enough geez
I would wear it if it were me.
Ok
On another note the drop tackle rule is a joke..
How about you teach players to tackel the right way and better.
Im Old School and what ever happened to leave things alone and quit making changes its driving me away , that's one of my biggest complaint about Roger Goodell also they got too strict on players I don't know why they don't revolt the players union has done a terrible job for players rights on Fines and Hits .
Just give the players flags to wear so nobody gets touched. GEZZZ
In practice they are not launching their head at people. The reduction of concussions in practice could be a shift in how player practice. Putting padding on helmets will jut reenforce players who use their heads as a battering ram. Less concussions but more neck injuries. 🤦♂️ Banning hip tackles is so ridiculous. The two tackles they showed were perfect tackles. It’s should be up to the offensive player to protect themselves. Instead of trying to fight the tackler for more yards, they should go limp and get down as fast as possible. One possible reason is this move makes it easier for officials to change the outcome of games for Sport Betting. 😉
Wish I had the patent
Change the NFL rule about a player having to be touched when on ground for play to end. College rule is safer. It says when a player is down, the play is over.
Throw flags on as well
They are literally getting softer.🤦😂
Just get rid of the helmets, and the players will learn how to tackle instead resorting to head first collisions.
This game is getting softer and softer this is football we talking about here another year or so women are going to play in nfl
Now change the helmet hit rules. I support player health
Just advocate for flag football then