Last Sunday in Jacksonville Florida the Cleveland Browns took the field to play the Jacksonville Jaguars. One of Cleveland’s star defensive players looked different than his teammates. Prior to the game, Cleveland Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah tweeted on X that he would wear the protective guardian cap over his helmet in this game. It was not required or mandatory for him to wear that. JOK voluntarily chose to wear it for his own safety. Many fans may ask how does it exactly work?

The guardian cap is worn over the football helmet itself. It is a padded shell to absorb contact and potentially minimize head injuries and concussions. When people see practice or training camp footage of an NFL team. Players often wear those caps as a safety precaution during practice. The caps worn in that footage is the color gray. But Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah’ s cap for this game was painted to match the Cleveland Browns helmet. It was not that noticeable when watching the game on television. Fans could notice the cap when taking a closer look at JOK playing on the field. The next question is how did it feel for him to play while wearing the cap?

Owusu-Koramoah was quoted after the game saying “the thing was nice “and “it was nice. It was smooth. I didn’t really feel anything on the hit side. I’m really glad to have the opportunity to wear those things. It was good wearing it. I felt good.”. The feedback was positive. Could this be a step in the right direction for NFL player safety?

After last Thursday’s night game of the Dolphins and Bills when Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered his second serious concussion in 2 years. All safety measures should be considered for NFL players. The league has yet to consider the guardian cap as mandatory for players to wear during games. Any reasonable precaution should be taken under serious consideration. Because these players can’t play football forever. But their lives will continue after they are done playing. And the deserve to have the best life possible after football.