NFL Partners with Oakley to Develop Innovative Mouth Shield Technology

“Risk mitigation is not one intervention, but a number of interventions you stack together in the hopes that the combination will be more effective than any of them individually,” said Dr. Sills. “That’s why we’re also thinking about ways that we can innovate around personal protective equipment, or PPE.”

Football and physical distance are not compatible. Foundational elements of the game like tackling and blocking require close contact on the field.

“Its’s pretty impossible to keep six feet apart on the field, so the genesis of products like the mouth shield is doing something innovative to mitigate risk when physical distance is not possible,” said Dr. Sills.

The mouth shield won’t eliminate the risk of transmission, but Dr. Sills emphasized that the protective equipment is designed with the most up-to-date understanding of how the virus spreads to mitigate the risk of transmission.

NFL engineers and Oakley designers solicited player feedback on early prototypes to ensure they developed a mouth shield that maximizes safety and comfort.