There’s plenty left unfinished, but credit belongs where it’s earned.
Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart gets sent into the medical tent for a hit evaluation on August 16th. Minutes later, he’s back on the field, telling reporters he’s still “puzzled” by how often it happens to him. He wasn’t hurt, and the trip to the tent is exactly what the protocol is supposed to do. A few days later, teammate John Michael Schmitz is off the practice field with a concussion of his own, and one line in an injury report is what most fans scroll past.
Neither one is a crisis on its own, but together they point at something bigger: the NFL has spent the better part of a decade building a system that works, and the rest of the sports world is only starting to catch up.
I don’t say that as a victory lap, and this league hasn’t asked for one. I’ve spent twenty years arguing with coaches, front offices, and players themselves about getting back on the field too soon.
But the league’s own numbers this offseason are hard to argue with. In-game concussion evaluations hit a record high of 538 last season, alongside 26 medical timeouts. That followed a 2024 season that closed at 182 diagnosed concussions leaguewide, a 17 percent drop and, at the time, an all-time low.
Line those two numbers up and the tired “it’s just better reporting” argument falls apart. You don’t get a falling concussion count by hiding cases. You get there by screening almost everyone and confirming only a fraction of what you check. Even the one number moving the wrong direction backs the same story up: kickoff-related concussions rose from 8 to 35 last season, which the league attributes to a much higher volume of returns under its new kickoff rules.
The rate per play stayed lower than the old format the whole time, so more plays and closer scrutiny still added up to a better rate, not a worse one.
None of it happened by accident. The league approved a redesigned protective cap this spring; more than 20 players wore some version of one through last season, including at the Super Bowl. Independent testing backs up what the league has claimed for years: concussions dropped by nearly half in mandated sessions once caps became standard gear.
Dart, for what it’s worth, isn’t thrilled to benefit from all that vigilance. Fair enough. But a protocol that annoys a healthy quarterback more than it fails an injured one isn’t performing for the cameras. It’s just working.
Soccer is only starting down that road, and this summer showed both sides of it. FIFA’s concussion protocol for the World Cup, the first of its kind at the tournament, finally took the call away from team doctors who have every incentive to keep a star on the pitch, and handed it to a neutral physician instead.
Then, in the tournament’s second week, Qatar goalkeeper Mahmud Abunada took a nasty blow to the head against Switzerland, was left momentarily unresponsive, got a brief sideline look, and played the rest of the match anyway. The decision drew real criticism, and it should have. Having the rule on the books was the easy part. Using it every time is the harder habit soccer still has to build, and it’s roughly where NFL sidelines were a decade ago.
There’s plenty left unfinished, including a rookie quarterback openly annoyed at his own evaluations and a World Cup goalkeeper who played on through a hit that should have ended his afternoon. But credit belongs where it’s earned.
What the NFL keeps proving, with data instead of talking points, is that a league can track its numbers, sit with criticism it doesn’t love, and change what happens on the field because of it. Soccer has the rulebook now and still needs the habit. Everybody else is just now picking it up.
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Dr. Brian “Bones” Allard, DC, has more than 20 years in sports medicine. He is a former NFL team physician and is an active contributor and professional consultant to the ongoing development of concussion protocols across all sports.
Jaxson Dart, August 16th hit and “puzzled” quote: “Giants’ Jaxson Dart ‘Puzzled’ by NFL’s Concussion Evaluation Protocol After Taking Big Preseason Hit,” Bleacher Report, August 16, 2026. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25472640-giants-jaxson-dart-puzzled-nfls-concussion-evaluation-protocol-after-taking-big-preseason-hit
John Michael Schmitz concussion: “The NFL Preseason Injury Panic Index,” The Ringer, August 18, 2026. https://www.theringer.com/2026/08/18/nfl/nfl-2026-preseason-injury-panic-index
538 evaluations, 26 medical timeouts, kickoff concussions 8 to 35: “2025 Season Key Takeaways,” NFL Player Health & Safety, February 2, 2026. https://www.nfl.com/playerhealthandsafety/health-and-wellness/injury-data/2025-season-key-takeaways
182 concussions in 2024 season, down 17%: “NFL had 182 concussions this season, down 17% from ’23,” ESPN, 2025. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/43629823/nfl-had-182-concussions-season-17-percent-23
Redesigned protective cap, 20+ players, Super Bowl LX, nearly half reduction in mandated sessions: “NFL Allows Guardian Cap 2.0 for 2026 Season,” Guardian Sports, April 8, 2026. https://guardiansports.com/2026/04/08/nfl-allows-guardian-cap-2-0-for-2026-season/
FIFA’s World Cup concussion protocol, neutral physician and dedicated substitution: “FIFA World Cup 2026 Concussion Rules: What Every Soccer Player Should Know,” Iron Neck. https://www.iron-neck.com/blogs/articles/world-cup-2026-concussion-rules-soccer-players
Mahmud Abunada head injury, Qatar vs. Switzerland: “Qatar goalkeeper Abunada defies Switzerland 3 points at World Cup. Head injury sparks outrage,” The Print, June 14, 2026. https://theprint.in/feature/qatar-goalkeeper-abunada-switzerland-3-points-world-cup-head-injury/2959404/
