NFLPA medical director Thom Mayer: “We should consider novel and emerging ways to handle the helmets and the facemasks and the spread of the virus.”

The NFL is partnering with Oakley to test modified face masks that “may contain surgical or N95 material,” according to NFLPA medical director Thom Mayer. 

“Back in early March, I had suggested that we should consider novel and emerging ways to handle the helmets and the facemasks and the spread of the virus,” Mayer told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “And these guys, the bioengineers that we use and that the league uses–Oakley, as you may or may not know, does all the face visors for the league under contract–these guys got the bit between their teeth.”

Mayer did not disclose specifics for the prototypes currently being tested by the NFL. But the league is currently exploring a slate of options for its face masks in 2020, with