After the 2025 season, Colts cornerback Charvarius Ward said that, if he gets another concussion, he’ll “probably retire.” To avoid that, he decided to try a Guardian Cap during the Week 1 game against the Ravens.
“I was scared to get knocked out again for real,” Ward said earlier this week, via James Boyd of The Athletic. “So I just put a Guardian Cap on. I warmed up with it, and it felt good . . . I just kept it on all game. So I might as well keep it for the season. It’s not gonna hurt me.”
The real question is whether it helps.
“I don’t know if it made a difference or not,” Ward said. “I got a headache right now. I don’t think it’s a concussion, but it is what it is. It’s football, man. You’re gonna get dinged up . . . I know what I signed up for.”
The full benefits of the Guardian Cap aren’t known. It helps with low-impact hits to the helmet. For bigger blows, will it make a difference?
One thing no helmet can do is prevent the brain from bouncing against the skull when the head quickly decelerates. Which is one way to get a concussion.
The NFL has a somewhat complicated relationship with the Guardian Cap. When the device was first adopted for use in practice, the league prevented players from wearing them during games. That position has changed; there are now one or two players in most games who can be seen wearing one.
The league is keenly aware of the aesthetics of the Guardian Cap. They’re bulky. They diminish the appearance of the helmet. Even the new model, which doesn’t require a cover for placement of logos and stripes, doesn’t look the same as the helmet.
As helmets improve, the argument is that they are as effective as prior technology plus a Guardian Cap. But, still, the Guardian Cap will always provide an additional layer of cushioning.
And it’s impossible to tell a player who wants to wear one that he can’t do it. Even if it doesn’t help that much. Even if it can create a false sense of security. Even if it doesn’t look great on TV. At this point, if it helps a player like Ward break the tie between continuing his career and not playing, it needs to be among the available pieces of protective equipment for a game that is inherently hazardous to the human brain.
There is some positive news on the injury front for one of Kansas City’s top rookies.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the current belief is that cornerback Mansoor Delane suffered only a short-term shoulder injury during Monday night’s win over the Broncos.
Rapoport noted that Delane’s X-Rays and CT scans came back clean. Delane was also set to undergo an MRI on Monday.
Delane likely aggravated a previous shoulder injury that he had dealt with during the offseason program and training camp.
The No. 6 overall pick of this year’s draft, Delane registered his first career interception on only his third career snap during Monday’s victory — ending Denver’s first possession.
But Delane landed on his shoulder on that same play, which sidelined him for the rest of the game.
The Chiefs will play the Colts on Sunday night in Week 2.
The Colts waived cornerback Johnathan Edwards on Monday, the team announced.
Edwards was inactive for Sunday’s game against the Ravens.
He originally signed with the Colts as an undrafted free agent on May 9, 2025.
As a rookie, he appeared in 14 games, with five starts, and totaled 24 tackles, three passes defensed and two special teams stops.
Collegiately, Edwards appeared in 45 career games at Tulane (2024) and Indiana State (2021-23) and recorded 124 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 22 passes defensed and one forced fumble.
The Colts started well on offense, but things quickly got out of hand for the club defensively until the club lost 41-23.
Baltimore finished with 506 yards of offense, averaging 7.9 yards per play. Lamar Jackson was 17-of-25 for 324 yards with a touchdown, plus 40 yards on the ground with a TD. Derrick Henry had 24 carries for 144 yards with three touchdowns. Before he left the game with a hamstring injury, Zay Flowers had five catches for 150 yards with a touchdown.
Veteran Colts safety Cam Bynum noted his disappointment and displeasure with the performance after the game.
“We had all training camp and OTAs to get together with the guys and make sure we were on point for everything this week, but execution on game day is most important,” Bynum said, via Nathan Brown of the Indianapolis Star. “That’s the stuff that the world sees. ... There’s no point to having a good practice if we can’t execute in the game.
“If we thought last week was good enough with our practice and preparation, what more can we do and what more do we have to do?”
Bynum had seven total tackles in the loss.
The Colts will be on the road to face the Chiefs on Sunday night in Week 2.
The Colts picked up right where they left off in Week 1 of the 2026 season, but that was not a good thing.
Indianapolis lost their final seven games last year and they are 0-1 after giving up 506 yards and turning the ball over twice in a 41-23 home loss to the Ravens on Sunday. The Colts only managed 251 yards of their own and running back Jonathan Taylor said after the game that he hopes the beating serves as a reminder that its time for the team to start taking things seriously.
“Definitely an eye-opener, definitely a wakeup call,” Taylor said, via the team’s website. “Like, hey, season’s here. Obviously we know no one’s gonna give us anything, but it’s a good team over there and it’s like, hey, doesn’t matter what you guys did last year, you gotta prove it again this year.”
Taylor ran for 98 yards and two scores, but the rest of the offense was underwhelming in quarterback Daniel Jones’s return from a torn Achilles. They’ll have to hope that more time back on the field helps Jones get back to where he was early last season because more of the same in the weeks to come is going to make for a long season in Indianapolis.
