Football helmets received a facelift on Wednesday as for the first time in roughly seven years, Riddell, the leading helmet manufacturer in the NFL and college football, launched a new helmet in an effort to prevent concussions.
As evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in former NFL players continues to appear in the brains of deceased NFL players, Riddell hopes the new Axiom helmet can help combat head injuries through a combination of the latest helmet technologies.
“This is quite a leap forward in helmet technologies,” Thad Ide, Riddell’s senior vice president of research and product development, told Yahoo Finance. “It really is a confluence of a lot of groundbreaking things that we've been working on in the past four or five years that are all coming together in one package now.”
The biggest differences
In the 2020 NFL season (combining both preseason and regular season games), there were a total of 172 concussions, according to data compiled by the NFL. And between the 2015-2020 regular seasons, there were a total of 976 concussions had by NFL players.
The Axiom helmet flaunts greater protection from these head injuries with upgraded fitting mechanisms, advanced technology that tracks collisions to the helmet. Visually, the biggest differences with Axiom are its flex panels that add more openings to the helmet’s shell and the removal of the top facemask bar. (Part of that area is now covered by a faceshield visor that comes standard with the helmet, which the company recommends players use.)
All of these changes are meant to make the helmet more flexible and improve its responsiveness to impact, Ide said. The removal of the top facemask bar also adds a broader field of vision, something most players that used the helmet during its trial sessions enjoyed, according to Ide.
Additionally, each helmet will come equipped with Riddell Tru-Fit. This technology uses a 3D scanning app, Riddell Verifyt, to scan 285 points on each player's head. The custom image is then used to build a helmet perfectly molded to each player’s head with personalized pad thickness and shaping.
Once on the field, new technology will also help coaches understand the direction and force of each impact on a given player’s head. The operating system, Riddell’s InSite integrated smart helmet technology, had previously been offered as an add-on for the SpeedFlex but now comes standard with Axiom. This will allow coaches of all levels to analyze head impact reports.
Coaches will also be able to determine which players are hitting with their heads most often and hopefully address the issue with players before they return to the field.
“Modern coaching is based on analytics, is based on data, and we can provide them data about the impact profiles and the head impact exposures that their players are seeing to hopefully reduce their exposures, keep their players healthier, and improve the performance of their teams,” Ide said.
Riddell plans to sell its latest model at a team price of $650 per helmet, about $200 more than its current top model, the SpeedFlex. After undergoing tests with major college programs at Florida State University and Auburn during the 2021 fall season, Axiom will be widely available during the 2022 football season and will appear nationwide during college spring practices and at the NFL’s offseason organized team practice activities (OTAs) in April.
“It may take two or three years before you see the tidal wave really hit the field,” Ide said.
Josh Schafer is a producer for Yahoo Finance.
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