In the NFL, helmet sensors are a sensitive issue

The NFL Players Association’s Mackey-White Committee, which spearheads player safety initiatives, spent considerable time discussing not only the potential health benefits of helmet sensors, but also the legal and ethical pitfalls that come with them, in mid-April.

Committee members made it clear the NFLPA wants to pursue placing sensors in helmets as soon as the technology meets its standards.

But the union also wants to ensure sensor data isn’t used in a way that infringes upon players’ medical privacy rights, or creates scenarios whereby careers are arbitrarily cut short by the teams for which they play.

NFL vice president Jeff Miller, who oversees the league’s health and safety policies, said the league’s focus, as it relates to helmet sensors, is making football safer.

The league and union have managed to work together testing helmet sensor technology, and even agreed on the results of an initial study a couple years ago.

Riddell, which manufactures football helmets and also has developed helmet sensors, said it could not comment on decisions by the NFL and NFLPA not to use its sensors.

Guskiewicz noted that the NFL’s decision to move up kickoffs, thereby increasing touchbacks and reducing returns, was influenced by a study that used helmet sensors on college players.

Colleges and high schools are already using helmet sensors to modify players’ behavior, Guskiewicz said.

Guskiewicz also suggested the NFL could start out by using only aggregate data or data compiled from a group of players to at least get a better understanding of the frequency and force of head hits on various types of plays, or for players at various positions.

But in part because of the distrust between the NFLPA and the league on a number of issues recently, committee members say embracing helmet sensor technology isn’t so simple.