Football players wear a helmet, shoulder pads, and a set of seven lower-body pads that fit inside their pants: two hip pads, two thigh pads, two knee pads, and a tailbone pad. That’s the core setup. Beyond those essentials, many players add optional pieces like back plates, rib protectors, and padded caps depending on their position and personal preference.
What’s Mandatory at Every Level
Both the NFL and NCAA require the same basic protective equipment. Every player on the field must wear a helmet, shoulder pads, thigh pads, and knee pads. The NCAA also specifically mandates hip pads with a tailbone protector. In the NFL, knee pads must be at least a quarter-inch thick and must fully cover the knees. At both levels, all pads need to be concealed under the uniform, with nothing worn outside the pants. Punters and placekickers in the NFL get a small exemption and can skip thigh and knee pads.
The Helmet
The helmet is the most engineered piece of equipment on the field. Inside the hard outer shell, padding systems absorb impact energy and keep the helmet fitted to the player’s head. Most helmets use polymeric foam liners, and many modern models feature inflatable air bladders that let players fine-tune the fit by pumping air into specific zones. Some designs use honeycomb-shaped thermoplastic structures that compress on impact and then spring back into shape.
These internal padding systems are tested at multiple impact speeds and at six different locations around the helmet to ensure consistent protection no matter where a hit lands. The materials can degrade under heat and humidity over a season, which is why helmets are reconditioned or replaced on a regular schedule.
A newer addition is the Guardian Cap, a soft-shell cover that fits over the outside of a standard helmet. The NFL reported a 50% reduction in preseason concussions after mandating it for certain position groups during practices in 2022. Lab testing showed an average 9% reduction in impact severity with one cap, and up to 20% when both players in a collision wore one. The caps aren’t required during games, but their practice use has expanded steadily.
Shoulder Pads
Shoulder pads are the most visible piece of protective gear, but they vary dramatically depending on position. The design a lineman wears looks and feels nothing like what a quarterback straps on.
Linemen wear the heaviest, most protective shoulder pads available. These pads are built to absorb constant, high-force collisions on every snap. They’re bulkier through the chest and shoulders but are designed without excess flaps or edges that an opposing lineman could grab onto.
Quarterbacks wear the opposite: lightweight, low-profile pads that sit close to the body. The priority is arm mobility and an unobstructed view of the field. A bulky pad that rides up during a throwing motion is a real problem for a quarterback, so these are trimmed down as much as possible while still meeting league requirements.
Wide receivers, running backs, and defensive backs fall somewhere in between. Their pads use extra-lightweight materials that still absorb hits, and many feature untied hitting flaps that allow full arm extension for catching or swatting passes. For these players, the ability to move quickly matters almost as much as protection.
The Seven-Piece Lower Body Set
Below the waist, players wear a standard seven-piece pad set that slides into pockets built into their football pants. The full set includes two hip pads (one on each side), two thigh pads, two knee pads, and one tailbone pad. Some pads are slotted so they can be secured to a belt, while others simply drop into sewn-in pockets in the pants.
Hip pads sit over the hip bones on either side, protecting against falls and direct hits to the pelvis. The tailbone pad, sometimes called a coccyx pad, covers the base of the spine and is required as part of the hip pad setup under NCAA rules. Thigh pads cover the front of the upper legs, where players frequently take helmet-to-thigh contact during tackles. Knee pads protect the kneecap area and must be fully covered by the pants at all times during play.
Despite being mandatory, lower-body pads have gotten thinner and lighter over the years. Some players, particularly at the professional level, have been known to trim or minimize these pads for comfort and speed, though leagues enforce the rules through pregame and sideline equipment checks.
Back Plates
A back plate is a flat, contoured piece of padding that attaches to the back of the shoulder pads with straps or clips. It hangs down to protect the lower back, kidneys, and spine from hits that come from behind. The top edge sits just below the shoulder blades, and the sides wrap around the ribs.
Back plates are optional, but they’re popular among running backs, quarterbacks, and wide receivers who frequently absorb blind-side hits or get tackled from behind. Fit matters here: the plate needs to be snug enough that it doesn’t shift during play, but loose enough to allow full range of motion when bending or twisting.
Rib Protectors
Rib protection comes in several forms, from full vest-style protectors that wrap around the torso to simpler rib belts that cover just the sides. These pads fill the gap between the bottom of the shoulder pads and the top of the hip pads, covering the rib cage and midsection.
Quarterbacks are the most common users. Because they stand in the pocket with their arms raised to throw, their ribs are exposed and vulnerable to incoming pass rushers. Many modern shoulder pads now extend low enough to wrap around the ribs, which has reduced the need for a separate rib protector for other positions. Still, any player dealing with a rib injury or who plays a position with high exposure to torso hits may choose to add one. Like most optional equipment, rib pad use comes down to position, personal preference, and injury history.
Optional and Supplemental Gear
Beyond the standard setup, players can wear additional protective items as long as any hard surfaces are covered with at least three-eighths of an inch of foam or similar soft material. This rule allows for padded braces on the hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, hip, thigh, knee, and shin, as long as they don’t create a hazard for other players.
Common additions include padded gloves (especially for linemen), forearm pads, and padded compression shirts worn under shoulder pads. Some players wear padded girdles instead of traditional football pants, which have the hip, thigh, and tailbone pads already built into a compression-style short. These girdles streamline the process of getting dressed and tend to keep pads from shifting during play.
Neck rolls, which once looked like thick horseshoe-shaped collars around the back of the neck, have mostly been replaced by newer collar-style pads that attach to the shoulder pads and limit how far the head can snap backward on impact. These are optional but common among linemen and linebackers who absorb frequent head-on collisions.