Texans' Jalen Pitre Becomes NFL's 1st Guardian Athlete, Backing Wider Cap Use
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 4
Texans' Jalen Pitre Becomes NFL's 1st Guardian Athlete, Backing Wider Cap Use
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 4
Summary
Jalen Pitre was named the NFL’s first Guardian athlete, giving the Houston Texans safety a formal role promoting Guardian Caps and player safety.
2020 marked the league’s first adoption of Guardian Caps, and padded-practice use is now mandatory for all players except quarterbacks, a rule Pitre said helped make his endorsement an easy decision.
Pitre said he keeps wearing the cap because it softens blows to the top of the head and helps players "make it to the game healthy" and "make it home healthy" as well.
Fresh off a career-high 4 interceptions, Pitre argued on-field success can normalize the cap despite style concerns and predicted it will eventually be built into helmets and become standard for future players.