Patriots need to enforce dramatic change after Drake Maye's injury

The Patriots lost their precocious and potentially prolific young quarterback, Drake Maye to a concussion against the Jets. It came on a hit to Maye's helmet and he was out the rest of the game thereafter.

Any football player, quarterback or otherwise, can and eventually will get hurt in this violent game. It is what it is: football. Players get injured no matter what position they play. Trying to shelter a healthy player from getting hit by sitting them on the bench is silly.

Over and above the deflating Maye injury (hopefully, he’ll be fine for next week), the National Football League needs to address a much larger issue. That is, to implement an enhanced concussion prevention strategy to protect their players, and that is the topic here.

The NFL has to act now to further protect its players

Drake Maye is the latest quarterback to get a concussion. The issue is player safety. One has to ask why equipment called the Guardian Cap,, which helps protect players from head injuries, has been and is being used in the league now, but has not been made mandatory yet by the NFL.

This issue has been addressed before, and now, it’s directly impacted the Patriots, and it stinks. Drake Maye had become the only hope for the New England Patriots. Now, he’s on the shelf as a result of a hit to the head.

So, what could have and should have been done to help mitigate these situations? It’s not rocket science. The available product is the previously mentioned Guardian Cap. The Cap has already been worn in the NFL, so why doesn’t every player always wear it? A cynical view is that it doesn’t look as good as the regular helmet. If that’s accurate, throw that foolishness right out of the window.

What the Patriots and the NFL need to do

First, the Patriots should mandate (if they can do so under NFL and/or the NFL Players Association rules) that certain, if not all, of their players wear the Cap. Interestingly, earlier this season, a Patriot did wear the cap. Jabril Peppers sported the protective equipment in a couple of early games. Not sure
anyone else even noticed.

Eight NFL players have worn the Cap this season, according to sportingnews.com. A while ago, sportingnews.com cited NFL Executive VP, Jeff Miller, speaking with the NFL Network, who had this to say about the Guardian Cap,

"We now have two years of data showing significant concussion reductions among players
who wear Guardian Caps," Miller said in a statement in April. 

"Additionally, there are new helmets this year that provide as much — if not more —protection than a different helmet model paired with a Guardian Cap. These developments represent substantial progress in our efforts to make the game safer for players."

So why aren’t they being mandated to protect all NFL players? Not only does it protect the current
and future health of the players, but it coincidentally will enhance the NFL product in the process.
Losing players to these injuries also damages the on-field product, hurting both the teams’ fortunes and the NFL generally.

It’s time for the NFL to act to further protect its players. It makes no sense NOT to make the Guardian Caps, or similar protective equipment mandatory. How many more serious head injuries and how much longer will it take for the league to get off the dime? Hopefully, not many, and not too long at all.

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