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Circa Leather Helmet
Made to protect the ears from cauliflower ear. You can fold them up small enough to fit in your pocket. -
Leather Helmets
Leather helmets were the first type of helmet used by football players. They were the only means of head protection until after World War II. Soft leather helmets were first used until the 1930s,
when hard leather, that better protected the head was introduced.
Helmet designs improved over the years by adding more padding and a strap to the inside of the helmet to reduce the pressure of impact -
Leather Helmet with Facemask
The facemask was added to the leather helmets in the late 1930's -
Leather Helmet with graphics
This was first introduced by the L.A Rams in 1940. They were the first team in the entire NFL to have graphics on their helmets. -
Plastic Helmets
Plastic helmets were introduced in the 1940s and 1950s to the National Football League. They became the standard form of headgear used throughout the NFL and are still used today, although the padding and engineering that go into the helmets have changed drastically and helped improve the comfort and safety of the helmets. In 1953 the first facemask was used by the Cleveland Browns -- a single-bar protective cover to prevent the jaw from being struck and damaged during a game. -
Radio Helmets
Radio helmets were first developed in 1956 by the Cleveland Browns, who were able to fit a small radio transmitter into the helmet of the quarterback and allow the coach to communicate through the receiver. This made it easier to coordinate plays, but the Browns' opponents discovered the radio transmitter and led to the radio helmet being banned three games later, according to "USA Today." But the radio helmet was re-introduced in 1994 and is still used today. -
Riddell Revolution
As for protection, there's nothing safer than an advanced Riddell football helmet. Its durable, exclusive polycarbonate shell encases your head in strong, impact-absorbing, and lightweight material, protecting you and keeping your head on a swivel, so you can rise above the competition. With a focus on reducing and managing impact energy to the side of the head and face, Riddell has included the new inflatable S-Pad jaw pads, designed to diffuse this impact energy and protect these areas. -
Riddell Speed Flex
By slowing the impact—even by mere milliseconds—the crumpling eases the acceleration factor in Newton’s Second Law of Motion (force = mass x acceleration). Riddell’s popular SpeedFlex helmet, with a deformable flap on the forehead, reflects similar thinking.
Like miniature shock absorbers, the struts buckle and flex on impact, sucking up energy before it reaches a player’s brain.