Awesome Concussion-Fighting Helmet Design Faces Uphill Battle

This reminded so much of my helmet design from several months ago (except mine exploded and had an air-mattress inside!), I thought I’d pass this along.

This Michael Princip was thinking along the lines that I was: a one-piece fully encompassing helmet was like wearing a bell casing on your head. You get hammered, your brain will just rattle inside.

He broke up the helmet into 3 layers, some layers broken into separate panels (such as the outer-most shell). This allows one panel to bear the brunt of the force, instead of the whole helmet absorbing the impact.

I think it’s brilliant. It just looks a million times safer than those brain buckets players currently wear.

Unfortunately Michael Princip is an independent developer, not a big huge company like Riddell which has major partnerships with just about every football league. You’d think it be as simple as collaborating with Riddell to make this a reality, but I doubt Riddell - who has spent millions and millions on safety and concussion research - will let a one-man operation waltz in with a superior design. They would look incompetent.

I’m hoping the NFLPA or CFLPA will opt to give these helmets a trial, simply for the potential benefit in increased safety for their player membership. I think that’s more important than a marketing deal.

Read all about Micheal and his cool helmet here in this unusually well-written Deadspin article.