Packer's Neck Bumpers

[J Sick]

Has anyone noticed that some of the Packers players have a real neck bumper

And some have a decal bumper with the same image?

[AceTen]

Strange.

I didn't notice that, thanks for pointing that out.

[Geoff]

Some helmets don't have neck bumper. Schutt hasn't for years and if a team wanted it's bumper logo (like the Pack), they'd put it on the helmet (like the Pack).

[sweeper13]

The Jags in the past have actually put JAGS on each individual strip of padding on the back of those helmets. I thought that was creative. I see if I can get a pic.

[John in KY]

The Jags in the past have actually put JAGS on each individual strip of padding on the back of those helmets. I thought that was creative. I see if I can get a pic.

The Bengals also did that for a while, but it seems like the decals didn't stick very well to the padding and tended to fall off.

Personally I've never liked this look on the "traditional" Schutt helmets; it kind of looks like the decal doesn't belong. Among the teams that do this, it probably looks best on the Colts since they use a white shell. It looks the worst on the Bears since they have a dark shell and no stripes. Since the decal is designed to fit the straight lower edge of a Riddell bumper, the decal doesn't fit the curvature of the Schutt Air shell so the decal just kind of "floats" like in the photo of the Packer player.

The new Schutt helmets - the ION4D and the Air XP - actually have rear snubbers like a Riddell helmet although they are much smaller in length. I've seen teams like the Packers and Bengals put the logo decal on them.

[KDubK414]

I might be WAAAY off, but I think this is the first year that the Pack has worn helmets other than the "normal" Riddell shell style. It was one of the first things I noticed while watching the game Monday night.

[PhilliesPhan1325]

I saw that Monday night. I think it looks weird as the decal. Maybe not even have it?

[rtrich11]

Since Riddell is the official helmet of the league, could this just be a way to make Schutt helmets look at least a wee bit more like the Riddell ones? Just so it's harder to notice.

[John in KY]

I might be WAAAY off, but I think this is the first year that the Pack has worn helmets other than the "normal" Riddell shell style. It was one of the first things I noticed while watching the game Monday night.

No, the Packers have always had a few players wearing Schutt helmets - Don Majekowski (sp?) comes to mind; also Brett Favre wore one his first couple of seasons with GB; I think he switched to Riddell about the same time they put the radio receivers in the QB helmets.

Last year quite a few Packers on defense were testing out the Schutt Air XP model - there are a couple of photos of Gbaja-Biamila from last season with the Air XP. They are from the end of the season; it looks like he started with a Riddell VSR-4.

Sorry; bad link; go to http://www.packers.com and go under the "TEAM" link to find the page with all the players' galleries.