🧠 Meet the Company Solving Guardian Caps’ Biggest Problem

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Happy Wednesday,

In football, head injuries have always been part of the game.

But for decades, that meant taking a hit of smelling salts and getting back on the field. No real protocol. No long-term thinking. Just “toughness.”

But that culture is finally starting to change, and John Zeglinski wants to be the one to accelerate it.

Ziggy, a former two-sport athlete at Wake Forest, is now the CEO of SAFR, a polyurethane helmet cover designed to reduce concussions by up to 77% in lab settings and 48% on the field. The device looks like part of the helmet, matches the team’s colors, and is already being adopted by schools, districts, and even pro leagues like the UFL.

But Ziggy’s not just selling a safety product; he’s fighting for adoption in a sport that still glorifies contact and distrusts change.

This week, Jake and I sat down with him to talk about the science behind head injuries, the industry barriers holding SAFR back, and why helmets haven’t kept up with the speed of the modern game.

🎧 [Listen to our full episode with John Zeglinski]

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5 Takeaways from the Origins of the Precision Time System

1. Concussions aren’t just big hits; they’re cumulative.

Penn State researchers tested players’ cognitive scores before and after the season. The athletes who sat out due to concussions returned to baseline by year’s end. But the players who took hits all year long (without “diagnosed” concussions) saw cognitive decline. As Ziggy put it, “That wear and tear adds up.”

That’s why SAFR isn’t designed to prevent one hit—it’s designed to reduce force on every hit.

2. SAFR reduced concussions by 48% in real gameplay.

In a study of Mecklenburg County, NC, players who wore SAFR helmet covers saw a 48% decrease in concussions. Those who didn’t? A 34% increase.

And in lab testing at Virginia Tech, SAFR reduced the risk of concussion by up to 77% compared to helmets alone. Against the Guardian XT (its most popular competitor), SAFR cuts concussion risk by nearly 6x on back-of-head impacts.

3. The product looks like the helmet (and that’s the point).

Ziggy made it clear: the #1 competitor isn’t Guardian Cap. It’s nothing at all. Most players don’t want to wear external padding because of how it looks.

That’s why SAFR is color-matched, shell-specific, and barely noticeable from the stands. “You’d be surprised how much kids care about safety now—but they still care about how it looks,” Ziggy said.

4. Helmet manufacturers aren’t incentivized to help.

Two-thirds of helmet company revenue comes from reconditioning—cleaning and repainting helmets every 1–2 years. But if you wear a SAFR shell all season, your helmet doesn’t get scuffed. You don’t need a new paint job.

That’s great for safety. Not so great for Riddell’s bottom line.

5. Adoption is coming from the bottom up, not the top down.

SAFR isn’t in the NFL (yet), but it’s already being used across the UFL, dozens of high schools, and entire youth districts. Ziggy believes youth players growing up with the product will become the driving force behind broader adoption.

One 19-year-old wide receiver, now in college, even asked his athletic trainer for a SAFR cover—despite being the only one on the team to wear it. “He believed in it enough to step out of his comfort zone,” Ziggy told us.

Why It Matters

The biggest barrier to safety in football isn’t tech, it’s culture.

Players want to stay on the field. Coaches want them to play through pain. Manufacturers want to protect their margins.

And that’s why real change has to do more than reduce G-forces. It has to fit into the existing ecosystem — visually, financially, and functionally.

SAFR might not be the final answer. But it’s already showing what’s possible when safety doesn’t get in the way of the game.

🎧 [Listen to our full episode with John Zeglinski]

📩 And don’t forget: Bottom of the Ninth is back this Friday with the top three stories in sports and business from the week.

See you then,
Tyler & Jake