The NFL could look very differently in the fall but the biggest change might be with facemasks.
According to the medical director for the union representing NFL players says the masks on the helmets may be modified to include N95 or surgical mask material as a way to protect the transmission of the coronavirus.
That includes the possibility of the entire helmet mask being covered, Thom Mayer told ESPN’s “The Adam Schefter Podcast” Monday.
“Back in early March, I had suggested that we should consider novel and emerging ways to handle the helmets and the facemasks and the spread of the virus,” Mayer told Schefter. “And these guys, the bioengineers that we use and that the league uses — Oakley, as you may or may not know, does all the face visors for the league under contract — these guys got the bit between their teeth.”
He even stated that it is quite possible the new design could cover a player’s entire facemask.
“They’ve got some prototypes; they’re doing really good work,” he said. “Some of them, when you first look at them, you think, ‘Gosh, no’ — ’cause you’re not used to seeing it; you’re just not used to seeing it. But they’re looking at every issue you can imagine, including when it fogs up. What do we do with that? But these guys are used to dealing with this stuff.”
We re truly living in unprecedented times.
