NFL enforces helmet ban for Brady, 31 others
Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 11:39 am
NFL enforces helmet ban for Brady, 31 others
The NFL and NFL Players Association have added 11 helmets to their joint list of approved equipment for 2019 while eliminating a grace period for other models that have fallen short in laboratory testing, engineers and executives representing both groups said Friday.
By the end of last season, 32 players were wearing helmets that are now banned.
Jeff Miller, the NFL's executive vice president for health and safety initiatives, said it is "eminently doable" to convert them to approved equipment.
Each team's equipment manager has been instructed to remove all banned helmets, which are listed on a poster distributed to teams Friday. If a team is found to have known about a player wearing a banned helmet, or to have facilitated the use of one, it will be subject to league discipline, Miller said on a conference call with reporters.
The NFL and NFLPA have been testing helmets since 2015, but they agreed for the first time last year to prohibit lower-performing models. Six were banned immediately and four others, including the one often used by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, were allowed to be worn for one more year.