{"id":51499,"date":"2017-02-14T15:57:54","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T21:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=51499"},"modified":"2017-02-15T09:04:07","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T15:04:07","slug":"former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NFL player hopes his technology will decrease concussion rates"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Allie Burger<\/strong>
\nReporting from Houston<\/em><\/p>\n

The Super Bowl has come and gone. Fans have left Houston and Twitter has trended toward in-season sports. But for players, the physical effects of that game along with the cumulative contact leading up to it, will continue to be felt by the Patriots and Falcons who took over NRG Stadium that day.<\/p>\n

Shawn Springs is determined to change that.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Super<\/a><\/div>\n

A day before Super Bowl LI, Springs, a 13-year NFL veteran cornerback, celebrated a victory of his own. His company, Windpact, won the Materials To Protect The Athlete award at the NFL\u2019s 1st and Future event for his padding system in helmets and protective gear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to make the game safer,\u201d said Springs, who was also awarded $50,000 by the NFL and Texas Medical Center, the competition sponsors. \u201cMy father was a professional football player. \u2026 I played 13 years and my sons just signed national letters of intent to play and follow in our footsteps. That\u2019s my passion behind wanting to create a great solution to be able to give back to the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springs, 41, said his idea for the padding technology was inspired by car seats he had for his three children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the technology used by a company called Safety 1st,\u201d Springs said. \u201cI went to work with those guys and said, \u2018Here\u2019s an opportunity for me to repurpose this technology.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Springs spent two years learning about impact protection before he began to develop his product. Slowly, he said, he built up a team around him and a prototype.<\/p>\n

Springs tested the helmet at Virginia Tech but was warned by one of the professors that more than 96 percent of products tried out there did not end up being successful.<\/p>\n

Springs was not one of the many flops.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data has been great, the improvements have been great and now we\u2019re taking the next step in football specifically to get it into a helmet,\u201d chief operating officer Max Moyer said.<\/p>\n

The competition panel, including medical and technology experts and former and current NFL players, said they see great potential in Windpact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I was looking for were two things,\u201d said competition judge and former astronaut Mae Jemison, \u201cwhether or not there was applicability to other areas, and how likely was it to make a change in the future that was very effective. I think that\u2019s what set them apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Windpact is still in an initial implementation phase, Moyer said the company has big plans in the next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019re sort of taking that turn from [research and development] to product development and plan acquisition,\u201d Moyer said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got our first helmet on the market. It has our technology in it and we\u2019re working with some really exciting larger brands to put it out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As their product\u2019s implementation into the sports equipment market increases, Springs said he hopes concussion rates will lessen.<\/p>\n

The ultimate goal is \u201cto be synonymous with head protection,\u201d Springs said. \u201cWhen you flip over a helmet, that\u2019s our impact technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Former NFL cornerback Shawn Springs’ company Windpact won the Materials To Protect The Athlete award at this year’s NFL 1st and Future event. (Allie Burger\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Allie Burger Reporting from Houston The Super Bowl has come and gone. Fans have left Houston and Twitter has trended toward in-season sports. But for players, the physical effects of that game along with the cumulative contact leading up to it, will continue to be felt by the Patriots and Falcons who took over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":51507,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,28,29,31,3673,3516],"tags":[3531,1370,3715,3718,3713,1113,3712,3717,3716,3714],"class_list":["post-51499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-chicago","category-general-interest","category-health-and-science","category-sports","category-superbowlli","category-winter-2017","tag-allie-burger","tag-concussion","tag-concussions","tag-mae-jemison","tag-max-moyer","tag-nfl","tag-shawn-springs","tag-texas-medical-center","tag-tmc","tag-windpact"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer NFL player hopes his technology will decrease concussion rates - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former NFL player hopes his technology will decrease concussion rates - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Allie Burger Reporting from Houston The Super Bowl has come and gone. Fans have left Houston and Twitter has trended toward in-season sports. But for players, the physical effects of that game along with the cumulative contact leading up to it, will continue to be felt by the Patriots and Falcons who took over […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-14T21:57:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-15T15:04:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/1standFuture.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"825\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"allieburger2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"allieburger2018\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/\",\"name\":\"Former NFL player hopes his technology will decrease concussion rates - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/1standFuture.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-14T21:57:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-15T15:04:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/589f0105bec23318bf2bc0b2d0e38cb4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/1standFuture.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/1standFuture.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":825,\"caption\":\"Shawn Springs' company Windpact won the Materials To Protect The Athlete award at the NFL\u2019s 1st and Future.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Former NFL player hopes his technology will decrease concussion rates\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/589f0105bec23318bf2bc0b2d0e38cb4\",\"name\":\"allieburger2018\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e46fd78b89b9d00e61d25ab7f2f874dfcd46d113e479fbd32aee91b16a615e5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e46fd78b89b9d00e61d25ab7f2f874dfcd46d113e479fbd32aee91b16a615e5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"allieburger2018\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/allieburger2018\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former NFL player hopes his technology will decrease concussion rates - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former NFL player hopes his technology will decrease concussion rates - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Allie Burger Reporting from Houston The Super Bowl has come and gone. Fans have left Houston and Twitter has trended toward in-season sports. But for players, the physical effects of that game along with the cumulative contact leading up to it, will continue to be felt by the Patriots and Falcons who took over […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2017-02-14T21:57:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-15T15:04:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":825,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/1standFuture.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"allieburger2018","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"allieburger2018","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/","name":"Former NFL player hopes his technology will decrease concussion rates - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/1standFuture.jpg","datePublished":"2017-02-14T21:57:54+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-15T15:04:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/589f0105bec23318bf2bc0b2d0e38cb4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/1standFuture.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/1standFuture.jpg","width":1100,"height":825,"caption":"Shawn Springs' company Windpact won the Materials To Protect The Athlete award at the NFL\u2019s 1st and Future."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/former-nfl-player-hopes-his-technology-will-decrease-concussion-rates\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Former NFL player hopes his technology will decrease concussion rates"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/589f0105bec23318bf2bc0b2d0e38cb4","name":"allieburger2018","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e46fd78b89b9d00e61d25ab7f2f874dfcd46d113e479fbd32aee91b16a615e5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e46fd78b89b9d00e61d25ab7f2f874dfcd46d113e479fbd32aee91b16a615e5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"allieburger2018"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/allieburger2018\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}