Why was Jason Kelce wearing bubble wrap on his head Friday?
Because he couldn’t help himself.
The NFL this summer is requiring several positions to wear Guardian Caps, which act as extra padding on top of helmets, for the first couple weeks of training camp. After missing Day 1 of practice, Kelce returned on Friday and thought he’d have a little fun.
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In addition to the Guardian Cap, he topped it off with some bubble wrap:
“Just having fun,” Kelce said. “They say the Guardian Caps add 20% protection, figure the bubble wrap gave me another 2 or 3. Just adding some more protective layers.”
The NFL is trying these guardian caps out this summer. All offensive and defensive linemen, linebackers and tight ends league-wide are required to wear them through the second preseason game.
What do the Eagles players think of them?
NFL
“I wouldn’t say they’re aesthetically pleasing,” Dallas Goedert said.
Lane Johnson put it a little more poetically.
“I think it’s goofy as s—,” Johnson said with a chuckle. “Look at it.”
OK, fair enough. They don’t look great. But if it prevents even one concussion during training camp, it’s probably worth it.
And there isn’t really a downside aside from the look.
“I think it adds a little bit of weight,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “Obviously, our pictures aren’t as good. But they’re there to protect us and the league is trying to do what they have to do to reduce injury.”
In a statement to ProFootballTalk, the NFL said preseason is the part of the season with the “greatest concentration of helmet impacts.” The league claims the caps reduce the severity of an impact by 10% if one player is wearing one and at least 20% during a collision between two players wearing them.
“They’re there for good reason,” Goedert said. “They did studies with them. Anything to keep us safer, why not do it? You only get one brain so might as well keep it as best you can.”
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