What most people do not realize or at least forget is the helmet is only protecting the player from skull fractures and contusions for the most part. Sure, it does help a little with preventing concussions or worse, but not nearly as much as people think it does.
Our brains are floating in our heads and padding alone cannot stop the inertia of our brains when our heads are moving and are abruptly and violently stopped.
New technology attempts to absorb some of the force of the hit, but ultimately football players cannot escape their brains snapping toward their skulls. Even after the initial hit, the ricochet/snapback effect can be even worse on the brain in some situations.
How sad will it be if the NFL one day learns that the old leather helmets that players wore decades ago resulted in a lot fewer concussions, brain/CTE damage, etc. than the state-of-the-art helmets provide today? .. and not because they offered better protection, but rather they provided more incentive for players to avoid slamming their heads together while tackling a player or running with the ball.
