What are NFL Players Wearing on Their Necks?

After watching the NFL’s Wild Card games this past week, a flood of confused football fans rushed to the internet in search of one key answer.

Rather than investigating this upcoming week’s NFL playoff odds, fans were laser-focused on a specific piece of equipment worn by Tony Pollard, Dalton Schultz and others.

What are NFL Players Wearing on Their Necks?

The band that you may have seen football players wearing around their necks in NFL games this year is called a Q Collar. It’s a head safety device that’s produced by a company called Q30 and approved by the US Food & Drug Administration.

What is a Q Collar?

Here’s the simple version: a Q Collar is a high-tech band that gently compresses a player’s jugular vein in order to force more brain into a player’s headspace. The increased blood in the skull provides a cushion to prevent brain movement, or “sloshing,” that’s often the result of sports contact.

By Q30’s own admission, the Q Collar isn’t intended to prevent traditional concussive hits. Instead, it’s seeking to minimize the impact of the much more common subconcussive forces that are extremely common in sports like soccer and football. Professional athletes might experience thousands of these hits over the course of their careers. 

Scientists and football fans alike are concerned about head injuries and concussions. That’s especially true in seasons like this one, where high-profile players like Tua Tagovailoa had to be replaced by Skylar Thompson after multiple concussions.

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