For the first time this season, players from all thirty-two NFL teams will use special protective shells attached to their helmets. Local high schools said they are safer as well.

Officials say these “Guardian Caps” are an innovative way to better protect players at all levels from head injuries and concussions.​

A local high school team is using them in football practice, and they give players reassurance as they hit the field.​

Melbourne Central Catholic’s football team is preparing for their next game. In those trenches is 15-year-old junior lineman Max Navarro. Max is an exchange student from Mexico in our country for just two months. He says he’s getting support from his coaches, teachers and fellow students.

Max has loved playing football as long as he can remember.

“I never thought it would be like this. I’ve liked football since I was a kid, but I wanted to experience it here in the U-S. It’s awesome, yeah,” Max said. ​Max was a natural fit to play on the line.

Melbourne Central Catholic only has a small team. Meaning some players have to play both sides, as in offense and defense. As a result, Max must get into the trenches on the offensive and defensive lines throughout the game. He gets twice the physical contact of these demanding positions. You might notice, Max’s helmet looks ‘different’.

“You feel more safety, more confident about it,” says Max. “You can’t even feel the hits.”

Max and his teammates on the offensive and defensive line are wearing Guardian Caps during practice. The one size fits all soft shell helmet cover offers impact reduction. It’s engineered to cut down on the impact some thirty-three percent.

Head coach Rich Prusinsky says the NFL has been doing a good job spotlighting the Guardian Caps used by over 100,000 athletes across the country for the past couple of years. It gave him and his staff the idea to equip their own players with safety being their number one priority.

Some former players came through and donated the caps.

“​Every lineman here at MCC has this product,” says Coach Rich Prusinsky. “We feel that we haven’t had any concussion issues in the first three weeks. We think based on the results we have thus far, it​’s a phenomenal product.”

Max’s goal is to move on to play college football. And he hopes that the team takes advantage of the safety caps too because he would continue to wear one.

“I would definitely take it,” he says.

​A recent CDC study found youth tackle football players ages 6-14 sustained 23 times more high magnitude head impacts than flag football athletes, along with 18 times more head impacts per practice.

2000 high school, 200+ colleges and all 32 NFL teams use Guardian Caps.