NFL Says 2024 Season Had Fewest Concussions Since League Started Tracking Data

The 2024 NFL season resulted in the fewest concussions since the league began tracking the injury, according to helmet safety data released Friday by the NFL.

That involved a 17 percent drop in concussions since the 2023 season, according to the NFL.

The NFL previously reported a total of 219 concussions in 2023, compared to 182 in 2024, per NFL.com's Judy Battista and The Athletic's RJ Kraft.

"It is another major step forward for player safety that the laboratory testing of the best helmets equated with lower injury rates on-field. The top-ranked helmets are performing as predicted – there is a significant decrease in concussion rates for the players wearing them," Jeff Miller, NFL Executive Vice President, said in a statement. "Our goal is to encourage all players to move into better-performing helmets for the 2025 season."

About 70 percent of players are wearing an NFL-recommended helmets ahead of the 2025 season, according to the league.

According to the NFL, laboratory testing and on-field results revealed that "players in top-performing helmets had a substantially lower rate of concussions than players wearing lesser-performing helmets."

Players playing with helmets listed as "not recommended" by the NFL were found to be at 30 percent higher risk of concussion than players wearing top-rated helmets, according to the league.

The NFL released a new list featuring approved helmets, including several new options that can be worn without Guardian Caps even for positions which require one in practice.

Two of the new models were developed as part of the NFL Helmet Challenge, a 2021 program that awarded a total of $3 million in grants in order to promote helmet innovation.

Three helmets were listed as "not recommended." Seven other helmets, which were previously not recommended, have been newly prohibited.

Miller has also previously credited the NFL's new kickoff rules for the drop in concussions. He told reporters in January the concussion rate on the play had dropped 43 percent during the 2024 season, per ESPN's Kevin Seifert.