New NFL Helmet Rule Aims To Prevent Player Injuries

In hopes of keeping players safe, The NFL has approved a new rule that strictly defines what they're allowed to do with their helmets.

The rule now states, “It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.”

The league says it will classify it as "unnecessary roughness," which will carry a 15-yard penalty.

"We did have coaches say, 'We always taught [ballcarriers] that … your idea is to lower your head and get as many yards as you can,' " Rich McKay, chairman of the competition committee, told the LA Times. "The answer to that is, 'Yes, it was. But no, it can't be.' You've got to teach them now that he's got to pick a side of that person in front of him and try to get as many yards as he can, not be lowering his head and trying to do it wrong."

We brought in Petros Papadakis from AM 570 L.A. Sports to discuss this new rule, as well as CTE, a degenerative brain condition that was recently found in the brain of Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski after he died by suicide.

While the new rule aims to promote player safety, many are worried that it will change the fundamentals of the game they love.


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