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A close-up of a football tackle during a game, with players from opposing teams in full gear colliding on the field. The intensity of the moment highlights the physicality and risks associated with the sport, underscoring the importance of player safety and brain protection measures like the Guardian Cap.
Last updated:
January 22, 2025

Mind games - the NFL’s ongoing quest to protect the brain

If you’ve been keeping up with the NFL playoffs, you may have noticed something different when Bills safety Taylor Rapp intercepted Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in the first quarter. Rapp, along with teammate Damar Hamlin, are among the growing number of NFL players choosing to wear Guardian Caps during games - not just in practice.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Guardian Cap, it’s perhaps best described as the combination of an oversized pencil eraser and a waffle iron sitting on top of players’ helmets.

While its looks are slightly offputting, the results are worth a second glance. The NFL reports significant concussion reductions among players using the caps, which is why they gave the green light to players to wear it during games early last year.

Mark this as another milestone in the NFL's ongoing efforts to reduce head injuries. And more long-term, the caps are another step in curbing the onset of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease that causes symptoms like memory loss, impaired judgment, poor impulse-control, aggression, and even suicide.

The urgency of addressing brain health in football has never been clearer. Just last month, the football community was reminded of these stakes with the posthumous CTE diagnosis of former Tennessee Titans tight end Frank Wycheck at just 52 years old. It's stories like these that continue to drive innovation and advocacy in player protection.

Since CTE’s connection to contact sports was identified in the early 2000s – famously captured in the 2015 Oscar-nominated film “Concussion” – the NFL has consistently looked for ways in which it can protect its athletes both during their careers and, more importantly, once their playing days are done:

  • In 2011, the league adopted a stringent seven-step concussion protocol that requires a player injured during a game or practice to pass numerous tests before being cleared to return to action
  • In recent years, the NFL has used data from game videos and sensors from gear like mouth guards to improve helmets. Biomechanical engineers also test NFL helmets the same way as car crash tests. They use data from each hard hit from games in the evaluations – taking into account each hit’s force, speed, velocity, player position and movement.
  • Guardian Caps are now mandatory for NFL practices – resulting in a 50 percent decrease in non-game concussions in 2023 and – are now being instituted in the college, high school and even youth ranks. NFL now also allows them in games.

These advances wouldn't be possible without tireless advocacy from leaders in the sports community. Few have done more to advance the cause of player brain health than legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg, whose work spans nearly four decades. Known as the inspiration for the film "Jerry Maguire," Steinberg has made brain health innovation a cornerstone of his legacy in sports.

"The specter of athletic concussion is a ticking time bomb and an undiagnosed public health epidemic with life altering consequences," said Steinberg, who has represented over 300 professional athletes including NFL Hall of Famers Steve Young, Troy Aikman, and current Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes.

The evolution of brain health protection in football now reaches beyond physical equipment like the Guardian Cap, into the actual mechanics of the brain itself. At this year's Super Bowl LVIII in New Orleans, alphabeats will join other innovators at the 38th Annual Leigh Steinberg Super Bowl Party, where the Brain Health Summit has become a cornerstone event. The summit brings together leaders in sports medicine, neuroscience, and technology to explore the latest advances in brain health and performance.

Of course protecting broader mental health in the NFL is nuanced. Of all the American sports, football is probably the one most infused with outdated codes of masculinity and a “just play through it” mantra that characterized talking about one’s state of mind or emotions as signs of weakness. 

In 2019, the league and its players association agreed to a mandate that all 32 teams must have a mental health professional on its staff. Prior to that, a 24-hour crisis hotline called NFL Life Line was the primary resource in place for players or family members of players in distress.

NFL Total Wellness now provides support through every phase of a player’s career, from their rookie orientation to their post-playing career “reintroduction” to broader society, a time many players struggle to adjust now without the structure of a football season to guide them for the first time since grade school. 

Neurofeedback is another frontier that offers tremendous untapped potential. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins helped introduce this science into the mainstream last year through the Netflix miniseries "Quarterback," where he detailed how neurofeedback training became an essential part of his preparation routine. Following the 2023 season, Cousins signed a four-year, $180 million contract at age 36 – perhaps a testament to how mental training can extend peak performance later into players' careers. When it comes to CTE and brain recovery, Steinberg recently said, “through neuroplasticity, processes such as neurofeedback and TMS can actually help rewire a TBI brain.”

alphabeats offers a particular type of neurofeedback – one that trains the brain to more easily and consistently operate in an alpha brainwave state. It’s a state of mind best described as “restful wakefulness.” Some have described it as a sensation where, within extreme chaos where everything is moving extremely fast, you’re able to see things move in slow motion to make your next strategic move. 

The implications for helping players both before, during and after play are huge. They can enter the field with peak awareness and mental agility to help prevent injury, with the same tool helping them recover in the event of injury.

It’s an evolution in player care that is long overdue. While tools like the Guardian Cap show promising results in reducing practice-related concussions, the full scope of brain health in football requires more. Players need better equipment, stricter protocols, and mental training tools like neurofeedback to protect and enhance player wellbeing.

As the NFL continues to evolve, the focus on brain health will only intensify. Through the combined efforts of advocates like Steinberg, companies developing new technologies that address these needs, and a league increasingly committed to player welfare, football's future promises to be both exciting and sustainable. The goal isn't just to make the game safer – it's to ensure that those who play it can thrive both during their careers and long after their final snap.