NFL approves a new version of the Guardian Cap for the 2026 season

This week, Chiefs Wire's Ed Easton Jr. spoke with Guardian Sports Chief Operating Officer Jake Hanson.

In his interview with Easton Jr., Hanson discussed Guardian Sports' ongoing innovations to improve player safety. The Kansas City Chiefs and the rest of the league have consistently used protective headgear in camps over the past few years. Their latest release takes the Guardian Cap to another level for players going into next season.

"Guardian Sports, we've been in business for 16 years now, and the development of the Guardian Cap actually begins all the way back in 2010, so we have a material science business. My family started the business. My parents founded both businesses. But we have a company called 'The Hanson Group' that does Material Science Solutions. So we make bulletproof glass for the US Air Force, self-sealing fuel tanks for BASF, and golf balls and bus bumpers for 3M, solving problems for these clients. Along that problem-solving journey, there was a group of doctors who approached my parents back in 2010 who wanted to make a soft shelf football cover."

Guardian Sports recently announced that the NFL has approved the Guardian Cap NXT 2.0 for use during games. The new, sleeker look of the Guardian Cap should turn heads positively among players as an upgrade over the original version.