The Evolution of the Modern Day NFL Football Helmet

It's funny to see the photos of the old football players that had on a primitive form of a helmet that looked like it offered no protection at all. It's also hard to believe that it took so long for the helmet to be born in the first place with all the heavy hitting that goes on in the game of football. From its earliest form of leather to the advanced plastics we see in the NFL today, the evolution of the modern day football helmet is one that is ongoing.

The first helmet wasn't really a helmet at all. In the early 1900s the first versions of what would become the helmet could be seen on some of the players. The helmet was referred to as a "head harness" and was really designed to help protect the ears. The head harness drew criticism though as the ear flaps totally covered the ears thus hindering the on field communications (source: popularmechanics.com). Enter the next phase of the helmet.

Sometime between 1915 and 1917 the first helmets featuring full skull coverage and holes in the earflap were introduced. While these versions were still made only of a few layers of leather they did offer some suspension from the head instead of resting right on the skull and were considered marvels of the time (source: popularmechanics.com).

Then in the 1920s and 1930s football helmet manufacturers started to use harder and harder leather and began experimenting with more cushioning inside the helmet. The helmets then started to evolve from the flat-top helmets first used to the rounder teardrop shape thus allowing the impact of a hit to be absorbed to one side or the other instead of head on (source: popularmechanics.com).

The biggest innovation in football helmets however came in 1939 when the John T. Riddell Company in Chicago Illinois introduced the first plastic helmet. They improved on the first versions and introduced a version in 1940 that featured a face mask (also plastic) and moved the strap from the Adam's apple to the chin. This version of the helmet is what started it all and today's NFL helmets are a direct evolution of it. 1940 was also the same year that Los Angeles Rams player and former art student, Fred Gehrke, became the first person to start painting logos on the helmets (source: popularmechanics.com).

The plastic helmet was a big breakthrough in technology for its time but did not come without its problems. During World War II plastic was tough to come by and many of the Riddell helmets were not of very good quality. And after another Los Angeles Rams legend Fred Naumetz split nine helmets in one season they were banned from use in the NFL (source: popularmechanics.com).

Over the next nine years, Riddell experimented with different polymers of plastic and in 1949, after some urging from Chicago Bears Head Coach George Halas, the plastic helmets were allowed once again to be used in the NFL. Soon after, the plastic helmet became the official helmet of the NFL. Add the new tubular design of the face mask in 1955 and the helmet as we know it was here to stay (source: popularmechanics.com).

Manufacturers continue to evolve the helmet's design and are now more focused on developing a helmet that can help prevent concussions. The is no doubt that one day a new breakthrough in football helmet technology will come through and change the look somewhat, but for the most part our helmet of today should stay aesthetically the same. But the safety will continue to evolve with the NFL helmet helping the gladiators of the gridiron stay as safe as they possibly can be.