Orlando, Florida – The NFL implemented new rules, banned another type of tackling and introduced equipment designed to improve player safety.
Keeping players healthy has been a priority for a league that has had so many star players suffer significant injuries in 2023. Aaron Rodgers, Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins and Justin Herbert – four franchise quarterbacks – have combined to lose 36 games. They were just some of the high-profile players who ended the season on injured reserve, although overall, NFL players missed a combined total of 700 fewer games in 2023 than in 2022.
Figuring out the best ways to help players stay on the field is a collaborative effort for the league and its teams, so the NFL last month held a combined medical summit believed to be the first of its kind in any sport.
As owners, general managers and coaches gathered for the league’s annual spring meeting at a resort 18 miles away, more than 400 athletic trainers, equipment managers, strength and conditioning coaches, nutrition experts and sports science directors came together to learn from each other and the league’s research partners.
“It’s not just team doctors or athletic trainers, all of these different disciplines really consider themselves part of our health and safety effort,” Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, told the AP. “Clubs look at themselves very holistically and these days, as coaches start to plan training schedules and plan the training camp, they really engage these different disciplines and do it through the lens of what can be an injury.
“Of course, coaches want to prepare their teams to play, but they also want to make sure they are as healthy as possible. And that’s where we’re looking at these interventions. How can we collectively, whether through medical care, equipment, nutrition or strength and conditioning efforts, what can we collectively do to increase player availability and reliability?
Injury prevention was the main focus of the four-day summit that featured members of the Society of Professional Football Athletic Trainers, the Society of Professional Football Equipment Managers, the Association of Professional Football Performance Coaches and the Society of Dietitians Professional Football Registrants.
The groups met for a series of workshops, seminars and combined education sessions. They visited several vendors and heard from guest speakers that included Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy and former player Andrew Whitworth.
“There is a certain maturity in the work being done in the sports, medical and innovation areas that requires sharing information across all clubs with greater frequency and depth than we have ever had before,” said NFL executive Jeff Miller.
Miller, the league’s executive vice president who oversees player health and safety, emphasized the importance of having the various groups in the same room, giving teams the opportunity to share ideas with each other.
The NFL plans to make this meeting an annual event.
“While everything in the league is competitive, player health and safety really isn’t,” Miller said. “This is a place where we can share and clubs can share with each other because everyone has this specific goal as a high priority.”
The various medical departments have come together as individual groups in the NFL for a long time, but the idea of bringing them together began a few years ago, said Tyler Williams, executive director of player health and performance for the Minnesota Vikings.
“As the combination continues to grow and disciplines become more subspecialty, how can we increase our level of interdisciplinary collaboration so that if an athlete comes in and wants to wear these cleats, when you look at the foot and ankle injury history and you look at how they train with sports medicine and how they feed with the nutritionist, all of those components should have a say at the table,” Williams said.
The groups sat together for six hours of educational and discussion sessions on the second day of the summit. Tendon health was the topic of the morning session. The afternoon chats featured five workshops led by subject matter experts in each discipline. Participants were encouraged to go outside their scope to understand the experience of fellow performers and hold cross-team conversations.
“We’re talking about injury and return to play, the role of equipment in getting the athlete back on the field and our approach to another team’s approach may be totally different, so we can take some things from each other to bring back to the field. our own club, which was the goal of it all,” said Brendan Burger, director of equipment for the Los Angeles Rams. “When it comes to an athlete’s health and safety, it’s not top secret. We are here for our athletes and the more we can help them, the better.”
Since 2002, the NFL has made more than 50 rule changes designed to eliminate potentially dangerous tactics and reduce the risk of injury.
During the league’s recent meetings, team owners unanimously approved a rule prohibiting players from using a spin technique to tackle an opponent. Miller said the hip-drop tackle was used 230 times last season and resulted in 15 players lost to injuries.
Collar equipment, chopping blocks and more were banned years ago. Helmet-to-helmet hits became illegal in 1996. The protection of quarterbacks has been a focal point for many rule changes, including one prohibiting low hits.
Last week, the NFL and NFL Players Association approved eight new position-specific helmets for quarterbacks and offensive linemen designed to help reduce the impact that can cause concussions.
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