Concussions decreased to a record-low in the NFL in the 2024 season, the league announced Thursday. That data dates back to 2015 when the NFL moved to using a league-wide Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system for its injury surveillance.

The injury data was shared Thursday by the league and compiled by health research company IQVIA.

On-record concussions decreased 17 percent when compared to the 2023 season — there were 182 total concussions combined in the preseason and regular season (games and practices) in 2024, compared to 219 total concussions combined in the preseason and regular season in 2023. This decrease comes on the heels of a preseason that saw only 44 concussions in games and practices — the only year lower was in 2020 when 30 concussions occurred during practices and there were no preseason games that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This year had a notable decrease over last year as the result of improved equipment, continued rules changes and enforcement, culture change around head injuries and so in many ways this was a milestone year with the fewest number of concussions on record. That is not to say that there is not a lot more work for us to do,” Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president overseeing player health and safety, said on a media call.

“We believe that the game while safer is no less exciting than it has ever been,” Miller said.

Dr. Allen Sills, who is the NFL’s chief medical officer, outlined one way that the league is hoping the concussion numbers will continue to go down.

“We’ve spoken very publicly about our desire to see head contact continue to get out of the game — avoidable head contact,” Dr. Sills said. “That is something that we’ll continue to spend a great deal of time focusing on and something that we’ll be talking a lot about with our competition committee.”

Dr. Sills also noted the significant improvement in helmets worn this season was a big contributor in improving on-field safety. This was also the first season that players could wear soft shell helmet covers called Guardian Caps. Twenty players wore them, and no negative effects were seen from their use.

Additionally, the NFL shared data from the new dynamic kickoff rule that was instituted for the 2024 season. The new rule led to a lower concussion rate (down 43 percent vs. the 2021-2023 average) with more kicks being returned — a 57 percent increase that saw 332 kicks returned. Seven kickoffs were returned for touchdowns, the most since 2021. Despite more kicks being brought back, the league saw the same number of concussions on kickoffs (eight) from year to year. The injury rate with the dynamic kickoff is on par with a run or pass play. Previously, kickoffs had an injury rate that 2-to-4 times higher than a run or pass play.

The dynamic kickoff also led to the fewest lower extremity strains on kickoffs since at least 2018 due to slower average player speeds. The shorter distances and fewer high-speed efforts covered on kickoffs reduced the amount of lower extremity strains by 48 percent on kickoffs. That data is being shared with the league’s competition committee as the dynamic kickoff was initially established as a one-year rule and is being reviewed this offseason.

The league also documented that lower extremity injuries remain the cause of the greatest amount of time lost by players. The league has looked to reduce those injuries through the use of a training camp acclimation period, and the use of different digital monitoring tools have helped to continue the decrease in this type of injury. Lower extremity strains that resulted in lost time were down 14 percent compared to 2021, which was the last season before the acclimation ramp-up time was introduced.

As the league’s medical staff looks ahead, hip-drop tackles are something that will be examined closely, as well as looking at the rise of shoulder injuries, high-speed helmet impacts and expanding replay assist on health and safety fouls. Sills also noted that similar to the kickoff last year, the punt play is one that will be examined as well.

Required reading

(Photo: Richard Heathcoate / Getty Images)