The upcoming season could see football players sporting mouth shields made by Oakley
The NFL continues to weigh in all possibilities to run this next season in a successful way amid the coronavirus pandemic. Besides the general concern of people attending the games and the process of making that happen, players will also get extra protection while on the field. To achieve this, the NFL is looking at a new design that could bring a whole new look for league players this 2020 season. The new device comes from Oakley and is a mouth shield to protect players from the expansion of the virus.
The Oakley Mouth Shield, designed in collaboration with doctors and engineers from the NFL and the NFL Players Association, is expected to be distributed to all of the 32 teams in the league over the course of this week, so teams can begin to test drive these additional protections on a much larger scale. This new design comes with Oakley Prizm Lens Technology that is used by skiers, military workers and now NFL players, which enhances color and contrast in their visors.
Extended down and attached to the faceguard are plastic sheets, and it comes with airways and openings on the mouth shield that are also safe enough to avoid transmission of droplets.
Meanwhile, negotiations over certain safety protocols to follow are still going between the league and the NFLPA, so there isn’t any rule for players to be forced to use the facemasks.
However, the NFL’s medical experts are insisting on players to use this protective equipment.
“That’s certainly what we’re going to encourage,” said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer.
“And we hope that we’re going to land on a product design that’s something that everyone would want to wear because they’ll see the value and want that additional protection without any detriment to performance.”
