Skip to content
 
Uni Watch

Steelers’ Daniels Wears Guardian Cap In Game

Posted in:
By

One of these things is not like the other…

__________

__________

Good Saturday morning, everyone. As you can see, there’s been a Guardian Cap sighting during an NFL game. In last night’s preseason opener for the Steelers, offensive lineman James Daniels became the first player to wear a custom covered cap, according to multiple sources. Here is a closer look at Daniels (number 78) on video, blocking his man…unlike the right tackle.

__________

__________

Be honest, those of you who really dislike the look of these caps. Does that look glaringly out of place in the pictures or video? Unless you’re getting an extreme closeup on TV, it looks pretty much like a matte helmet. When the Chargers and Commanders broke out their custom covers during training camp, I said I’d be fine with players using these in games. I’m definitely on board after seeing one on the field.

Now that Daniels is the first, will others follow? Maybe, and maybe not. According to Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s Chief Medical Officer (quoted in this Steelers Depot article) the caps may be allowed with or without covers in a game, but there are now six approved helmets that provide just as much protection or more under the shell. If a player wears one of those six helmets, they don’t need to wear a Guardian Cap during training camp. So if you’ve seen a player other than a kicker, punter, or quarterback without a cap in the past two weeks, that means they’re wearing one of the six new models. I’m guessing Daniels will be part of a select few who will wear the Guardian Cap. Once more players switch to the newer lids, the cap could end up being a mid-2020s quirk in NFL helmet history.

Another question: will he be the first to wear a cap for two teams? He could be part of a trade with the 49ers to send receiver Brandon Aiyuk to Pittsburgh, so we’ll see. Anyway, the other team in the game, the Houston Texans, wore the same combo that they wore last week at the storm-shortened Hall of Fame Game.

__________

__________

It was the first time for quarterback CJ Stroud, though, who played two early series. I’m curious to see what he and the Texans will wear next week, as they host the Giants. Speaking of Phil’s team, I didn’t get a chance to chime in when he proposed fixing their unis. Better late than never…

__________

 

__________

At least I’m not calling for a return to the disco NY or for a disco NJ, so there’s that. The current ny logo will be featured five times on the field this year at Giants games, and we also get a look at how their New Jersey co-tenants, the Jets, will decorate the field when they play in the Meadowlands.

__________

 

__________

Love the helmet the G-Men chose. That’s my second-favorite facemask, after the single-bar. Too bad the Jets went with their logo instead, but it’s still nice.

There were two more preseason games last night, neither of which had any unusual uni news. There was an unusual name in the Falcons/Dolphins exhibition, though. Say hello to Storm Duck!

__________

 

__________

No wonder I hadn’t heard of him. He went to Louisville, and I tend not to watch them because I can’t stand their uniforms. Hopefully if he makes the team and scores a pick-six, he and teammate Jaylen Waddle can combine on a celebration dance. Then there was the Eagles/Ravens game featuring green/white/white vs. black/purple/white, and…a walk-off field goal!

__________

 

__________

Meanwhile, in the 12-men-per-side football league, the Toronto Argonauts turned the light blue dial to 11 last night. That’s…a lot.

__________

__________

Thankfully, the stripe-tastic Stampeders gave the game some nice contrast. Here’s how they looked in action.

__________

 

__________

 

 

 

 
  
 

Didn't Get Enough Light Blue After That? Utah Hockey Club Has You Covered

Yesterday, the Utah Hockey Club unveiled their Inaugural Season logo, and it’s already at center ice.

__________

__________

Hard to believe it’s only 59 days until their season starts.

 

 

 

And That Does It For Today

Enjoy the preseason football (or am I the only one who still enjoys it?), or the Olympics (rooting for Poland in this morning’s gold medal men’s volleyball match), or baseball, or whatever floats your boat today. Tomorrow I’ll have the return of…Wafflebored! Stay tuned for that, and for whatever else I’ll have for you. Take care, everyone.

 

 

Related Posts

Sunday Morning Uni Watch 2024: Week Eight

Purdue Football Unveils New Helmet, All-black Uni, for Friday Night Tilt vs. Oregon

Uni Watch Christmas Recap

NHL In Prague, Wafflebored, And More

Monday Morning Uni Watch: ‘2023,’ Week 18
Comments (19)

    I wonder if any teams will experiment with a slightly enlarged logo on the caps. I’m not good at 3-D geometry but I’d guess those caps have about 5-8% more surface area than the helmet they cover. The logo on the caps tends to have a gumball-helmet look with the decal covering smaller surface percentage than we are used to. Would a larger logo make the helmet blend in more or stand out?

    Ok, I just had my blonde moment of the day. I’m going into this article thinking a Steelers player had a Cleveland Guardians baseball cap on the side line and thinking what’s the big f’n deal. Then when reading a sentence or 2 , my Brian kicked in realized it’s the protective new NFL headwear. A lol moment at me.

    You do you, 78.
    The Guardian cap may/may not add noggin protection…but it’s not a good look and I hope it’s a short – lived element (as an aside, I didn’t like the look of the ‘less-than-safe’ Cooperalls in ice hockey).
    I’m a fan of Giants blueless road reds (tweak the away game set with white facemasks?) and would hate to see them go … sorry, but blue pants should never again be an option for Jersey A.
    Calgary without question has one of the best uniforms sets in all of pro football right there – but numbers would look way better than sleeve ponies.
    I really hope Utah NHL keeps those colors for Year 2 and beyond…please don’t screw up the team name!

    It may be less complicated for Utah now that the WHL’ s Winnipeg Ice have recently relocated and rebranded. Reason being is it won’t seem as much like they are heavily borrowing their new identity from an existing major junior team when they keep these colours and announce they are the Utah Yeti.

    link

    Cynical ChrisH says there’s no issue with an NHL club using the same-ish colo(u)r scheme as a low level minor league team that very few outside Winninpeg has ever heard of or seen.
    Then again, I like the hues since it reminds me of the WHA Aeros (Hey, of Houston didn’t land the ‘Yotes and rebrand them as the Aeros, at least the pallete can live again).

    I still don’t like it. At all. All the other players have a circular logo. I can see his wrinkled logo without zooming in. I hope he gets one of those “just as safe” helmets for the regular season.

    I really like the concept of one era of NYG unis at home and one on the road. What an idea!

    I too love the helmet logo with the old facemask. When I see that facemask Dan Fouts always comes to mind because he truly embodied that look when I was a kid before QBs started embracing the 3 bar look. That’s also why I like tend to prefer the Riddell Speedflex nowadays because it’s the closest visual representation that mimics that old style.

    I agree the single bar is pretty cool but I love the “Staubach” two bar logos a few teams adopt with throwbacks from time to time.

    The “Staubach” is my third favorite facemask. That would have been a great choice as well.

    These designers are creative enough to make it look like a traditional helmet, we’re still in its infancy. If it’s going to help prevent more head injuries I’m all for it especially for lineman.

    I didn’t realize there were helmets that gave as much protection as these lame Guardian covers, let alone 6 of them. Why wouldn’t Daniels wear one of those? I don’t know what these 6 helmets look like, so it might make sense for some to rather wear the Guardian only during practice, so they can wear their preferred helmet during games, but this makes no sense for someone like Daniels who would wear the Guardian during a game. Also, why would the NFL allow players to wear helmets during games that aren’t as protective?

    Because players are stubborn and superstitious. It’s almost a footnote in his list of controversies now, but remember Antonio Brown’s helmet debacle with the Raiders? Or how Brady wore essentially the same helmet model for nearly 20 years until he went to the Bucs? Sure the NFL really should require only the safest helmets, but I imagine it’s one of the battles they’d rather not fight with the NFLPA, when they can fight for more games/ad revenue instead.

    The NFL probably likes that the NFLPA keeps allowing these helmets that aren’t as safe. Now if the NFL gets sued, they can say that the NFLPA approved the use of these inferior helmets.

    Man, I know we talked about it last week but boy do those new Texans getups look bad. The “blue” is WAY too dark, so the basically look like the Falcons. What a fail.

    I realize I should be better than this, but I take great pleasure seeing how terribly the Texans chose to outfit themselves.
    Can’t blame on Swoosh, Inc…can’t pivot on the Adams family.

    The blue is way too dark but the ownership’s reasoning is this is the original Texans blue from their inaugural season. Not a good excuse imho. Having said that, I could let that slide if they’d have kept red numbers on the road jersey, even if the new number font is a downgrade.

    Check out the red line on the ice in Utah. Has the outline of the state of Utah in the red line.

    Since the Toronto Argonauts introduced this new uniform in 2023 it has been fun because they mix-and-match a lot. The Argos have the 3 sets of pants and 3 sets of socks in different colours.

    I don’t know that I really trust the NFL when they say that certain new helmet models are just as safe as the caps, but if that’s the case, it’s probably pretty likely that players will just pick those models instead of going through with the guardian caps. I think it does help that they’re not very noticeable at TV distance unless you’re really looking for them. I wonder if they’re still distracting for players at field level, though, or if that kind of thing doesn’t really catch a player’s eye mid-game.

    Well, if the NFL allows these in games why not? But stating that 6 different helmets are just as safe or even safer than this cap suggests the league does not really like them for some reason. I would be very suspicious as a player when suddenly no less than 6 different helmets are deemed to be just as safe.

Comments are closed.