Armor on the Field: The NFL’s Headlong Race to Build the Unbreakable Linebacker

[THEANGEL&THEGAMBLER]

Armor on the Field: The NFL

Vito has been taking a lot of orders lately. He’s the charismatic CEO of Unequal Technologies, a Philadelphia company that manufactures military-grade Kevlar padding for sports equipment. Since 2010, Vito has been touting Kevlar as the best shock-suppression material in the world and boasting that his patented “EXO Skeleton CRT” — CRT for “concussion reduction technology” — absorbs as much as a quarter of the force a player takes to the head or chest, significantly reducing the risk of injury.

“If Kevlar can stop a bullet, it can damn sure stop a blitz,” Vito told Wired.

Over the past year, his pitch has convinced more than 20 NFL and NHL teams to use his pads in their equipment. Two dozen professional players are using EXO Skeleton CRT pads in their helmets, and more than 100 are wearing it in shoulder pads, elbow pads and other gear. As the NHL and NFL grapple with an epidemic of concussions, Kevlar-reinforced helmets are increasingly viewed as a magic bullet. The technology is proving particularly attractive to players who have sustained head trauma and desperately want to keep playing. And later this summer, Vito plans to take his product mainstream, unveiling a multi-million dollar advertising campaign aimed at the hundreds of thousands of youth league players around the U.S.

But in the rush to make their players unbreakable, pro teams aren’t asking many questions of Vito beyond how quickly he can do the job. Neurologists intimately familiar with sports-related concussions warn that there is no scientific evidence that Kevlar can reduce the risk of head trauma. Worse, they fear the pads could make the problem worse by masking symptoms. The leagues have yet to independently test the effects of Kevlar, and neurologists – including one who has treated many concussed NFL and NHL players — expressed surprise when told it was being installed in helmets.

Despite being listed as doubtful just 24 hours before the bi-annual Steelers-Ravens bloodletting, Harrison took to the field and, wearing Vito’s padding, made a team-leading eight tackles and three sacks. It was arguably his best game of the season. He called Vito the next day in disbelief. The head pain he typically felt after every game had vanished. The stars that normally lingered in his peripheral vision after big hits had disappeared. It was the first time in ages he hadn’t heard ringing in his ears. “This stuff is like Novocaine for the brain,” he told Vito. “It was a tremendous turnaround from what I felt in any other game,” Harrison told Wired. “Usually you get three or four hits a game that give you head-ringers, and I haven’t gotten that since I started using Kevlar. It’s night and day.”

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

if they need statistics, just look at Soldiers and the amount of TBI and concussions they suffer....not on the same level but it would provide some insight

 

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

Umm..kevlar doesn't stop the impact of a bullet...it stops a bullet from spitting, and tearing thru your body...that's how slugs work, its like an electric screwdriver and spins thru your body...kevlar stops the spinning with its meshlike material...I doubt it is as effective on blunt impact...

I'm not an engineer but this could be pyrite.

 

[NatiboyB]

with kevlar you still feel the impact and it hurts like hell but as the poster above says it can't shred.