Jalen Pitre made a critical decision during the 2025 season that now has the Houston Texans star making history.
Pitre, a second-round pick in 2022, is coming off his third straight injury-shortened season. But it was his first time missing games due to a concussion, and Pitre decided that he needed to take the proper precautions.
He returned wearing the Guardian Cap and is leading the charge in hopes of inspiring others.
Texans’ Jalen Pitre Sends Message Amid Historic Partnership With Guardian Sports
GettyJalen Pitre first wore the Guardian Cap in Week 13 against the Colts.
Pitre suffered his concussion in Week 9 during the Texans’ loss to the Denver Broncos and returned in Week 13 with his new attire. Pitre became the first player in Texans franchise history to don the covering during a regular-season game in his return to the field last season.
Now, he is teaming up with Guardian Sports, the company behind the Guardian Cap, as the first NFL “Guardian Athlete”
He is hoping to spread the word to his peers and future generations alike.
“Regardless of the level you play at, protection is the most important thing,” Pitre said in a statement via Guardian Sports, adding, “Be proactive. Don’t wait until after you get a concussion,” and that he “wanted to make sure I did everything I could to protect myself.
“This is about continuing to push the game forward. Think about your safety now because that’s what you’ll have when you leave the game.”
Guardian Sports COO Jake Hanson–no, not Texans linebacker Jake Hansen– praised Pitre.
“Jalen Pitre is probably one of the hardest-hitting safeties in the entire league right now. So, having him out there still wearing a Guardian Cap, still flying around, still playing the game that we love, and that he loves, to the best of his ability–and not really changing the outcome or not really changing what it looks like–is really cool,” Hanson told Heavy Sports in an exclusive interview.
“He’s going to be amazing. We’re super excited to partner with him, and he’s a great advocate for us, and a great, great football player. So, we feel really blessed to have him.”
Hanson related his own experience benefiting from wearing the Guardian Cap in high school. He also noted the benefits of younger generations seeing stars like Pitre sporting them. He noted the athlete testimonials as one of the most satisfying parts of the effort.
Guardian Sports CEO and co-founder Erin Hanson also praised Pitre.
“Jalen’s commitment to athlete safety reflects the values at the core of our mission,” Erin Hanson said in a statement sent to Heavy Sports. “Young athletes look up to the players they see on Sundays, and Jalen is helping lead the next generation toward a safer future for football. By embracing protection at the highest level of the game, he’s helping normalize athlete safety for kids, parents, and coaches everywhere.”
Jalen Pitre’s Role as a ‘Guardian Athlete’ Explained
Alex Slitz/Getty ImagesJalen Pitre is helping the next generation alongside Guardian Sports.
Pitre is not the first player to wear a Guardian Cap in a game. The NFL began allowing it during the 2024 preseason and regular season.
That was offensive lineman James Daniels. Daniels, then with the Pittsburgh Steelers, wore it in a 2024 preseason game against Pitre and the Texans. Pitre is now following in Daniels’ footsteps as a trailblazer for Guardian Caps in the NFL.
Pitre is not just giving lip service, either.
The Texans’ star nickelback is putting his words into action and helping equip others with knowledge and access.
Pitre, as part of his partnership with Guardian Sports, will “donate Guardian Caps to his community, helping equip the next generation of athletes with protective gear and reinforcing his commitment to giving back to the football community that helped shape his career.”
Jake Hanson told Heavy Sports that reaching the lower levels is “imperative.”
He also provided some compelling data amid the renewed discussion around the long-term effects of football and head injuries.
“We believe that it’s really the repetitive, non-concussive blows over time that lead to the long-term side effects of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and TBI (traumatic brain injuries),” Hanson told Heavy Sports.
“Research backs that as well. The average high school lineman takes over 1,000 hits to the head every single season.”
Per Hanson, the NFL reported a “50% reduction in concussion rates” among wearers.
Guardian Sports Staying Innovative
GettyGuardian Caps have become increasingly popular in the NFL and at lower levels.
Hanson said that Guardian Sports began as an effort by his parents. Their company, The Hanson Group, operated in a different industry before partnering with the NFL.
They were approached in 2010 by a group of doctors who were seeking to make a flexible helmet shell. Hanson said that their full-shell design was “too much, too fast.” The NFL and its viewing public “wanted to hear the crack of helmets on game days.”
They came up with the Guardian Cap, and the rest is history.
In 2026, just four years after mandating the Guardian Cap in practice for most positions and helmets, the NFL will allow the Guardian Cap 2.0 for use in games.
“We continue to iterate on the product,” Hanson said, including products, materials, and designs. all with the goal of “looking to get just a couple percentage points better in terms of impact reduction.”
To that end, they have developed a chinstrap that helps reduce forceful impacts.
“In 2024, the NFL released data that over 40% of in-game concussions actually occurred from facemask-to-facemask impacts,” Hanson said.
“We worked with a group of researchers out of Stanford called SoftShox, and we’ve created a new chinstrap that helps reduce those facemask-to-facemask blows up to 35%, and we’re actually having that on NFL fields as of last season. And now, all 32 NFL teams have purchased chinstraps for this upcoming season.”
Hanson continued, “Now we have over 90% of NCAA Power Four programs using our product. All of these college teams are wearing our Guardian Cap, as well as a lot of them using our chinstrap. We’ve got over 5,000 high schools. We’ve got 500-plus youth programs.”
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