The internal structure of the Vicis quarterback helmet is specifically modified to absorb hits in the places most likely for a quarterback's head to make contact with the ground, Battista reported. "This past year we had an increase in the number of quarterback concussions, and it was the same helmet-to-ground dynamic." "The thing that distinguishes quarterbacks and their concussions is they have a disproportionate number of head-to-ground impacts that cause concussions," said Jeff Miller, the NFL's executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, per Judy Battista of NFL.com. Many of these injuries came when signal-callers smacked into the turf after being hit following throws, like during the play which likely concussed Tagovailoa in December. The NFL said in February that an overall spike in diagnosed concussions could be attributed partially to an increase in quarterback head injuries. "What that means for us, as designers or engineers, as we're looking to optimize it for different types of impacts, we're able to change unique locations to try to optimize the impact mitigation in any one area."įor quarterbacks, the crucial area to protect is where their heads hit the ground during a fall. "The unique thing is that it has a deformal outer shell, which means when you take an impact in any location on that helmet, it will deform or basically dent in that location to absorb the impact," Vicis executive Jason Neubauer told the Associated Press of the Zero2 Matrix QB helmet. Unlike regular helmets, which are meant to withstand head-to-head hits, the quarterback version is designed to protect the wearer's skull from contact with the ground.
The company said its original Zero1 helmet, which has earned high safety ratings since it was introduced to the NFL and NCAA in 2017, featured multiple layers designed to absorb impacts "like a car bumper." It is manufactured by Vicis, a startup that emerged in 2014 with the goal of creating helmets that protected against brain injuries in addition to skull fractures.
This first-of-its-kind quarterback helmet model was approved by both the NFL and NFLPA.
NFL executive Jeff Miller told the Associated Press in April that the helmet "performs better in laboratory testing than any helmets we have ever seen for those sorts of impacts."
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