NFL 'cautiously optimistic' about decreased preseason concussions

At the owners meeting in New York on Tuesday, the NFL's chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, said the league found seven teams that had an elevated number of concussions following the 2017 preseason and "a targeted intervention with those clubs" was launched, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.

The league held wide-ranging conversations with the football operations staffs of those teams, discussing designs of practice drills and player helmets, and is "cautiously optimistic" about the results.

"In six of those seven clubs, the numbers did go down," Sills said. "Those seven clubs had 23 practice concussions as a whole in 2017, down to nine in 2018."

The number of preseason concussions dropped by 12 league-wide from 2017 to 2018, with zero of those injuries being sustained on kickoffs following rule changes to make the play safer.

Another targeted area was a helmet-rating system, which grades helmet safety on a green-to-red scale. NFL vice president of player health and safety, Jeff Miller, said the system, developed in conjunction with the NFLPA, has seen positive results in players switching helmets to those with a superior rating.

Helmets with a red rating will be prohibited for all players next season. Only 40 such helmets remained in use as of Week 3, according to Miller.