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DES PLAINES Jeffery Simmons Jersey , Ill. (AP) — There probably never will be a perfect football helmet. That doesn’t mean manufacturers won’t chase that goal.A tour of the Riddell headquarters makes that absolutely clear. Innovation, imagination, analytics, all with advancements in the product and enhancements of player safety as the objective.Those advancements have occurred in this century at varied paces. Some improvements have developed over a period of years, while others — particularly nowadays with so many steps forward in technology and analytics — happened rapidly and will continue to do so.Riddell is among four manufacturers who have received high marks in the NFL/NFLPA annual rankings, which are revealed publicly, and a poster of the ratings is placed at every team facility. VICIS, Schutt and Xenith also scored well.“Our success in the ratings or the NFL poster and at Virginia Tech’s testing shows our desire to improve safety,” says Thad Ide, Riddell’s senior vice president of research and product development. “I think the level of player safety is changing for the better with information from the NFL and developments as a manufacturer.”Those developments have included Riddell partnering with digital manufacturing company Carbon to combine such additive manufacturing and production on a mass scale. By combining Carbon’s digital light synthesis technology, advanced software design tools and some innovative materials, Riddell’s new SpeedFlex Precision Diamond helmet hit the market as the third-highest ranked item on the NFL/union poster. It features Precision-Fit technology Nate Davis Jersey , which uses 3-D scans of players’ heads to create helmet liners that precisely fit each athlete’s head size and shape.It’s what Riddell calls “next-gen head protection,” a description that also can be applied to the VICIS Zero 1, the Schutt F7 LTD, and the Xenith Shadow among other top-rated helmets. These represent the latest step in the search for the safest head gear on every level: professional, college, high school and youth.One innovation, Riddell’s InSite impact monitoring system, “brings a new perspective to the game that is different than just having a helmet that tests well,” Ide says. “We seek a more holistic approach.”That is evident simply from witnessingpresentations of the InSite Training Tool, which collects and analyzes an impact profile for each player in order to identify training opportunities that could decrease impact exposures. Riddell’s innovation lab features a series of impact tests for helmets. In one test, a helmet is struck at a variety of locations and from different directions and with varying intensities — the kind of hit that occurs so often and, many times Tytus Howard Jersey , without warning on the field — to test rotational and linear forces that might lead to injury. In another test, the helmet is dropped from higher than five feet to test the reduction of impact force from different locations on the helmet. Results are judged on a pass/fail basis.The Precision-Fit process — though the helmet wasn’t available yet when he played, Peyton Manning was heavily involved in it as an adviser and still is — has led to 630 NFL players wearing them in their second year of eligibility. All 32 teams are using them, Ide says, and Riddell notes that its SpeedFlex Precision model was worn by more players last season than all other manufacturers’ models combined.“That far outstripped our expectations,” he says. “It’s not often a helmet is adopted that quickly.”Riddell also does extensive reconditioning of helmets from all football levels. That can range from cleanups and sanitizing to repairs, recertification, or even replacements.On the college level, Riddell used its “InSite” system with an unidentified FBS school to compile extensive data on all impacts in every practice session and game for every player. The info gathered indicated such things as which drills have the most and least number of head impacts; which days the overall practices were most and least effective; and which specific players needed extra monitoring during each drill.That sort of comprehensive data can upgrade preseason, in-season and postseason scheduling plans on a player safety scale, as well as on a performance level. It is being used by more than 800 programs and 30,000 athletes across youth Gary Jennings Jr. Jersey , high school and college football.“We can pinpoint position groups and then individuals to see who did what, or does a drill still work,” says Matt Shimshock, Riddell’s lead support coordinator for smart helmet technologies. “We’ve measured 5 million impacts. This is plug-and-play data.”And it’s just really the beginning of the next step in the quest to develop the safest helmets possible.“Advances are happening on many levels,” Ide notes. “We want people to know about all of them.” INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts’ competition to start at right tackle just got more complicated.One day after incumbent Denzelle Good left the third preseason game with a knee injury, coach Frank Reich said that Good would not play in Thursday’s preseason finale at Cincinnati and could miss several additional games.Good is listed week to week, meaning the Colts must find another starter before the Sept. 9 season opener against Cincinnati.“We are going to take one more week to evaluate that,” Reich said on a conference call Sunday. “(General manager) Chris (Ballard) and his staff are working on it. Coaching staff, we have talked a lot about it. Chris and I have had a lot of discussions on it. We will figure out what’s best for the team. We are going to use these last couple of days, and last (preseason) game to zero in on that.”It’s the only spot along the revamped offensive line without a clear front-runner.Longtime left tackle Anthony Castonzo expects to reclaim the spot when he returns from a hamstring injury, which has kept him out for most of training camp. The Colts hope he’ll be back for Week 1.Center Ryan Kelly has played well after returning from an injury-filled second season. The 2016 first-round draft pick missed the first part of last year after having foot surgery and finished the season on injured reserve with complications from a concussion.Rookie Quenton Nelson was plugged into the left guard slot after being selected No. 6 overall in this year’s draft, and Ballard signed free agent Matt Slauson to start at right guard.But with quarterback Andrew Luck finally back from surgery on his right shoulder Ugo Amadi Jersey , one spot remains unsettled — and Good’s injury could make the choice more difficult.Good started last season on injured reserve with a torn ligament in his wrist, but returned in time to start five of Indy’s last six games.He entered training camp with the inside track to keep the job — by fending off challenges from second-round pick Braden Smith and veterans Joe Haeg, Austin Howard, J’Marcus Webb and Le’Raven Clark, who started Saturday’s game at right tackle.Now, with Good at least temporarily out of the mix, the Colts will take as much time as they need to pick a starter.“I feel confident with the guys that we have competing for that position, but we will take all the time allotted to us to make that decision,” Reich said. “No one panics, you get guys ready to play and you go in with confidence with the guys you got.”Good wasn’t the only one hurting after Saturday’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers.Starting defensive end John Simon left the game with a neck injury, but is now listed day to day. Reich said Simon was pulled as a precautionary measure because he also finished last season on injured reserve after hurting his neck, and he could return in time for the season opener.Backup safety T.J. Green Devin White Jersey , who has been fighting to keep a spot on the 53-man active roster, has been listed week to week after hurting his hamstring.Indy also traded former starting inside linebacker Antonio Morrison to Green Bay for cornerback Lenzy Pipkins — a move intended to shore up a secondary that was already missing second-year cornerbacks Quincy Wilson and Nate Hairston because of injuries.But Reich and Ballard are still trying to sort out backup spots at receiver, tight end, in the secondary and even along the offensive line.And they won’t be rushed.“There are some good battles left at all these positions and we will use the whole body of work to determine that. But certainly last impressions always help,” Reich said. “Everybody has their three or four things like this they are dealing with. It’s more par for the course, status quo. This is normal order of business.”