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The First Helmets
The NFL was first created on August 20th,1920. At this time, technology was not very advanced. The helmets were made out of soft leather, which didn't offer much head protection at all. This caused frequent concussions. -
The 30's Helmets
When the league was a decade old, a new helmet was developed. It was maufactured out of hard leather, as the league was trying to enforce better player safety. There were still a lot of head injuries, but this was a small step forward. -
The 40's Helmets
In the 1940's, the helmet were made of hard leather still, but most of them hard chinstraps now. As the league gets older, player's safety gets better because of technological advancement. -
New NFL rule
Before the 1943 season, not all players had to wear helmets. The NFL must have realized the danger of this,as a new rule was announced,stating "all NFL players must wear helmets." -
New 50's Helmets
A couple of new and important modifications were added to football helmets in the 1950's. They were now all hard plastic, which made head to head contact a little less dangerous. Also a single bar was added where the chin strap is to protect the mouth. -
60's Helmets
Even with the addition of the single bar face mask, players could easily stick their fingers through and poke and gauge opponents eyeballs to the point of serious injury. The NFL must have noticed this, because by the early 60's all players wore double bar face masks on their helmets, although it still didn't do a great job protecting player's eyes. The helmets themselves were still made of hard plastic. -
70's Helmets
The NFL was trying to decrease head injuries when they created energy absorbing helmets. Padding was developed inside to stop the head from bouncing around so much into the hard plastic of the older helmets.Also, by the mid 70's, the full bar face mask was used on most player's helmets. The 70's was definitely a huge turning point in the evolution of the football helmet, and player safety improved a lot. -
80's helmets
Not too much changed in the 80's. Helmets were still more energy absorbant and players had less concussions. One change was a visor was added on the helmet by some players. They used it to protect their eyes from the sun and player's fingers. Also the first polycarbonate helmets were made in the late 80's. -
Polycarbonate 90's helmets
These polycarbonate helmets were made to withstand big hits. There was a lot of padding inside and a full face mask. Most players would where visors too. The NFL was progessing steadily to try to have less injuries. -
New Century Helmets (2000's)
At this time, more chin straps were added to hold the helmet into place better. The amount of concussions had also dropped. Many new facemask patterns had intricate designs to make sure player's fingers couldn't reach through. -
Current Helmets
As technology as advanced over the years, player's safety has increased. We are able to develop helmets that can withstand a lot of contact before giving a player a concussion. Concussions are still the most frequent injury in the NFL, with some where around 140 per season in the NFL. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the NFL because of head related injuries. Hopefully the NFL can find an even better solution to the problem.
