The NFL has highlighted the best of the latest helmet models available to its players for the 2025 season, following the now-annual laboratory tests conducted in collaboration with the NFLPA.

Building on a record-setting number of new models (12) introduced for the 2024 season, including five that tested better than any helmet previously worn in the league, the seven new helmets available to players this year all ranked in the ‘Top Performing’ category. Notably, the lab results are supported by recent on-field data, with players in top-performing helmets having a substantially lower rate of concussions than players wearing lesser-performing helmets.

Lesser-performing helmets have now transitioned into the ‘Not Recommended’ category on the 2025 list, having performed worse in the laboratory and found to have a near 30% higher concussion rate onfield than the highest-ranking helmets.

“It is another major step forward for player safety that the laboratory testing of the best helmets equated with lower injury rates onfield,” said Jeff Miller, the NFL EVP overseeing player health and safety. “The top-ranked helmets are performing as predicted — there is a significant decrease in concussion rates for the players wearing them, and our goal is to encourage all players to move into better-performing helmets for the 2025 season.”

The 2024 season marked the largest safety improvement in helmets worn onfield since 2021, contributing to the fewest concussions in an NFL season on record. This was a 17% reduction compared to the 2023 season. As the 2025 season approaches, approximately 30% of players across the league are reckoned to not be wearing one of the top-performing helmets, putting them at an increased risk of injury based on recent data.

“As helmet technology continues to improve, widespread adoption among players continues to make a difference,” said NFL chief football administrative officer Dawn Aponte. “Equipment staff at the club level serve a critical role in helping players understand the current offerings and work with them to select an option that levels up protection and offers a great fit. We are working closely with the clubs to support their efforts to move players into better-performing helmets.”

Many of the ‘Not Recommended’ models have newer corresponding options in the ‘Top-Performing’ group and nearly all top-ranked helmets for 2025 have an element of fit customisation, utilising innovative technology such as head scans or adjustable padding options. As helmet technology has continued to advance, the number of ‘Guardian Cap Optional’ helmets has also increased, to 10, affording players additional safety options as they make their helmet choice. Players in positions covered by the Guardian Cap requirement may instead choose to wear one of these helmets and forgo a Guardian Cap for practices.

There are seven newly prohibited helmets, previously in the ‘Not Recommended’ group, that will not be available for onfield use in 2025. All these helmets ranked in the top-performing group as recently as 2022, demonstrating how quickly helmet performance has improved in only a few short years.

The technology behind two of this year’s new models — the Light Apache Pro and Light Gladiator Thunder — was developed by awardees of the NFL Helmet Challenge, a $3m competition designed to accelerate helmet performance and safety for NFL players. Their inclusion in the top-performing group of this year’s rankings reflects the league’s commitment to working with a wide range of engineers and material scientists to generate new, highly-effective approaches to helmet design.

The NFL, in collaboration with the NFLPA, conducts its laboratory testing programme — performed by jointly-appointed biomechanical experts to evaluate which helmets best reduce head impact severity — on an annual basis. Top-performing helmets were also evaluated using position-specific test methodologies for quarterbacks, offensive linemen and defensive linemen. These tests recreate the unique impacts players at each position tend to experience on the field. Last season, nearly 30% of players in positions for which there were position-specific offerings — OL, DL and QB — took the option to wear one.