Watt and Golden Poke Fun at New Guardian Caps

The new protective shell, called a Guardian Cap, is designed to prevent concussions. But around the Cardinals locker room it isn't being well received.

You might have noticed large padded cushions on top of certain players' helmets during training camp this year. The helmet cover is called the Guardian Cap, and is designed to protect players from concussions during camp. In its first week, the protection cover isn’t receiving rave reviews.

Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt does not seem to be a fan of the bulky piece of headwear, poking fun at the oversized addition.

“You feel like a bobblehead, like you’re going to fall over,” Watt said.

Following the team's second day of practice, Watt tweeted out, in the nature of a diary entry, his happiness to be back at camp with his friends. The defensive end continued to say, “The only strange part was that they made me wear this beehive on my head the whole time.” Included was a photo of the Guardian Cap.

According to the NFL, the padded cover reduces concussions by 10% if one player is wearing the cap and by 20% if two players are wearing the cover during impact.

The padded shell straps onto the helmet and has multiple protruding cushions to soften a collision. The goal is to limit concussions during a time in which the NFL says it “sees the greatest concentration of helmet impacts.”

“My head is big anyways," Golden said. "When I looked at the picture I said, 'You’re making my head look even bigger.’ ”

Not everyone is "lucky" to wear the new cover; it is only mandated for offensive linemen, defensive linemen, linebackers and tight ends. The cap not only seems to be an eyesore, but a hassle to play with, noticeable enough for Golden.

“You can tell. My head on the field feels way more heavy. Putting that on I can feel the extra weight on it,” Golden said. “But it’s padded and they say it helps with concussions and hopefully it can.”

Despite the criticism, Watt said he understood the importance of the caps and why they were being mandated this season.

“Guardian Caps are great, it’s a great addition, we should wear them all the time,” Watt said with tongue firmly planted in his cheek. “We got a couple guys who might need to wear them just walking around.”

This is the first year that the protection helmet is being mandated across all 32 teams. Players like Watt will have to manage with the cover until the third preseason week when teams are not required to use them. The caps will only make appearances during camp and not in preseason games.

According to Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury, Watt is not the only player on the roster who isn’t a fan.

“The pretty boys like him and [Zach] Ertz. It hurts their swag level a little bit,” Kingsbury said. “But we’re trying to protect those guys as best we can and everyone's on board.”

This past March, the NFL teams voted on the rule to add the protective padding to the helmet. The rule passed and initiated the new training camp mandate.

The company that manufactures the Guardian Caps, Guardian Sports, won the first HeadHealthTECH Challenge in 2017. The league created the contest to help the development in safety equipment.