Key Takeaways
- The NFL recorded 168 in-game concussions in 2025, a 30% increase from 129 the prior season
- Facemask-related concussions now account for 44% of in-game head injuries, up from 29% in 2015
- The league launched a crowdsourced HealthTECH Challenge offering up to $100,000 in funding for new facemask designs
- NOCSAE finalized the first-ever youth-specific football helmet standard in February 2025, with a September 2027 effective date
- CDC research found youth tackle football players ages 6 to 14 sustain 15 times more head impacts per session than flag football players
Soooooo eliminate face masks? https://t.co/27GvybnjeL
— Vic Lombardi (@VicLombardi) April 2, 2026
NFL Concussion Numbers Reverse Course
After a notable decline in 2024, NFL concussion numbers moved in the wrong direction last season. The league recorded 168 in-game concussions during the 2025 campaign, up 30% from 129 the year before.
The league’s internal review pointed to a specific problem: facemasks. While helmet shell and padding technology has improved rapidly in recent years, facemask design has largely stayed the same. According to league data, 44% of in-game concussions in 2025 involved facemask impacts, compared to 29% in 2015.
“We’ve seen substantial improvements in the helmet shells over the last few years, but we have not seen a similar improvement in face masks in their ability to deter some of these concussions,” said NFL EVP Jeff Miller at the league’s annual meeting in Arizona.
The NFL banned seven helmet models ahead of the 2025 season and moved three others to a “not recommended” category. About 12% of active players will need to transition to newly compliant helmets in 2026 as force-absorption standards continue to tighten.
Jake Hanson, Chief Operating Officer at Guardian Sports weighed in on the matter:
“The NFL’s facemask data confirms what the research has shown for years, roughly 50% of all impacts in football occur to the facemask, and it’s the area where helmet innovation has stalled for decades. At Guardian Sports, we’ve been working on this problem directly for the last several years. Our FLEX Chinstrap, powered by SoftShox hydraulic technology, is the first and only safety-focused chinstrap on the market. In independent lab testing, it achieved the lowest mean HARM score of any chinstrap tested, outperforming every competitor by 25% to 40%. The SoftShox technology behind it was developed at Stanford, supported by NIH grants, and validated in peer-reviewed research. Last season, 5+ NFL athletes and dozens of college players trialed the FLEX Chinstrap, and the Indiana Hoosiers, the reigning NCAA national champions, along with dozens of other programs, now have athletes wearing it in Spring camp. The Guardian Cap already addresses top-of-helmet impacts, now the FLEX Chinstrap closes the gap on facemask hits, which is exactly where the NFL’s own data says the problem is.On the flag side, the growth numbers are astronomical, and so is the rise of injuries. Just because flag is non-contact, doesn’t mean there is no contact. That’s why we developed our LOOP product, for those incidental blows that occur when athletes are playing at full speed. Virginia Tech’s Helmet Lab tested our LOOP headgear and found it reduced peak linear acceleration by roughly 70% compared to bare head across all impact locations. It earned a 5-star rating, and is the top rated headband in the US market. As flag football heads toward its Olympic debut in 2028, players at every level deserve the same commitment to safety innovation that tackle has always had. LOOP is that answer.
Safety innovation can’t stop at the shell. We’re building for the whole system & for every athlete.”
A Crowdsourced Push for Better Equipment
In response, the NFL announced its latest HealthTECH Challenge, a global crowdsourced competition inviting engineers, startups, academic teams, and established companies to develop improved facemask designs. The challenge, unveiled at a Super Bowl innovation summit in February, focuses specifically on how facemasks absorb and reduce the effects of on-field contact. Selected winners will receive up to $100,000 in aggregate funding along with expert development support.
“We’re looking for new ideas, and hopefully that will lead to further changes on how the helmet actually works,” Miller said.
The initiative continues the NFL’s broader equipment innovation strategy, which has driven measurable improvements in helmet shell technology through previous HealthTECH rounds. The facemask gap, however, represents an area where those gains have not yet followed.
What NFL Facemask Data Means for Youth Football
The NFL’s findings carry direct implications for youth football. If facemask design has lagged behind at the professional level, where equipment budgets are virtually unlimited, the gap is almost certainly wider at the youth level, where programs often rely on older equipment with tighter budgets.
The numbers underscore why this matters. A CDC study published in Sports Health found that youth tackle football players ages 6 to 14 sustain 15 times more head impacts than flag football players during a given practice or game. The difference in volume is striking: tackle players experienced a median of 378 head impacts per athlete over a season, while flag players experienced a median of eight. Tackle players also sustained 23 times more high-magnitude head impacts than their flag counterparts.
Separately, research from UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s Research Institute found that approximately 5% of youth tackle football players ages 5 to 14 sustain a concussion each season, a rate higher than previous estimates, which had relied on incomplete reporting from coaches and team managers rather than licensed athletic trainers.
These data points matter for anyone operating in youth sports, from league administrators to facility owners to equipment providers. The concussion conversation is not just an NFL storyline. It filters directly into parent decision-making, league enrollment, and the long-term viability of tackle football programs at the grassroots level.
Youth Helmet Standards Are Finally Catching Up
One meaningful development: the equipment ecosystem is starting to respond. In February 2025, NOCSAE finalized the first-ever performance standard designed specifically for youth football helmets (ND006), after more than a decade of research and development. The standard accounts for the unique biomechanics of younger players, who fall to the ground more frequently and carry proportionally larger heads relative to their bodies.
The new standard includes a maximum helmet weight of 3.5 pounds and adjusted impact thresholds based on youth-specific data. It takes effect in September 2027, giving manufacturers time to develop compliant products.
Riddell is already moving. On March 31, 2026, the company unveiled its ND6 helmet line, three models designed specifically for players below the high school level that meet the ND006 standard more than a year ahead of the deadline. The helmets are available for team orders now and will soon be stocked at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports + Outdoors, and Scheels.
That said, cost remains a real barrier. A new youth football helmet runs around $140, with reconditioning required every two years at $40 to $50 per cycle. Over a helmet’s 10-year usable life, the total cost approaches $400 per unit. For under-resourced programs, those numbers add up.
Flag Football’s Role in the Concussion Conversation
The concussion data also helps explain one of the most significant participation shifts in youth sports over the past decade: the rise of flag football.
According to SFIA data reported by Sportico, approximately 7.8 million Americans played flag football in 2024, with participation led by preteens. The NFL’s own flag program, NFL FLAG, has quadrupled participation since 2019 to more than 800,000 players. Flag football was the only team sport tracked by SFIA that experienced growth in regular participation among kids ages 6 to 17 between 2019 and 2024. Among children ages 6 to 12, flag participation (4%) has now surpassed tackle (2.7%).
The girls’ side of the sport is growing even faster. Girls’ flag football participation has climbed roughly 388% since the first post-pandemic NFHS survey, with nearly 1,000 additional schools adding programs between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. Over 20 states are now sanctioning or piloting girls’ high school flag football at the varsity level.
The connection between safety concerns and flag’s growth is not coincidental. The Aspen Institute’s Project Play 2025 report noted that flag’s expansion has been largely driven by the NFL’s investment in the sport as some parents delayed or walked away from tackle due to the risk of brain injuries. With flag football set for its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, the momentum is structural, not seasonal.
For youth sports operators, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity. Tackle programs need credible safety investments to retain families. Flag programs need infrastructure, facilities, and trained officials to meet surging demand. Equipment manufacturers are navigating both markets simultaneously. And the NFL’s facemask data adds another layer of urgency to all of it.
Equipment Innovation Alone Won’t Close the Gap
The NFL’s decision to crowdsource facemask innovation reflects a broader reality: equipment alone cannot solve the concussion problem, but better equipment is a necessary piece of the solution. The league’s willingness to publicly identify the facemask gap is notable, and the data it published gives youth football stakeholders a concrete framework for evaluating their own equipment standards.
For youth sports businesses, the takeaway is practical. Parents are paying attention to these numbers. Leagues that invest in updated equipment, transparent safety protocols, and age-appropriate programming will be better positioned to retain and grow participation. Those that don’t will continue losing ground to alternatives like flag football that carry a fundamentally different risk profile.
The facemask may be one component of a helmet. But the conversation it has sparked touches every level of the sport.
Source: Front Office Sports, Eric Fisher, April 1, 2026 | NFL.com, Associated Press, February 6, 2026
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