Twelve new helmets to be offered to players for 2024 season

NFL players will have 12 new helmets -- including eight that are made specifically for linemen and quarterbacks -- to choose from next season, as the pace of helmet innovation increases and more manufacturers offer the specialized helmets.

Five of the new helmets for 2024 performed better in laboratory tests conducted jointly by the league and the NFL Players Association than any helmet that has ever been worn in the NFL, according to the league and the players association. Quarterbacks will have a choice between two helmets -- one made by Vicis, one made by Riddell -- designed specifically to reduce the impact of blows they suffer when their heads hit the ground, which causes most quarterback concussions.

"Having more options in different styles, even from the outside and the inside of the helmet, that's going to be a big thing for players deciding to adopt these helmets," said Dr. Annie Bailey Good, senior mechanical engineer for Biocore, which conducts the laboratory tests of the helmets.

Last season, when the first quarterback-specific helmet was introduced, nine quarterbacks -- not all of them starters -- wore it. Twenty offensive and defensive linemen wore the helmets designed specifically to reduce the impact of the blows they are most likely to receive, to the forehead and front of the helmet. During the next round of testing, helmet performance for the types of hits sustained by defensive backs and wide receivers will also be measured. The hope is that in 2025 there will be information for those position groups about which helmets perform best for them.

Position-specific helmets were first introduced in 2022 for linemen, and players have so far been slow to the embrace them, with concerns about how the new helmets