Much has been made over the past few seasons about NFL players and their complete and utter unwillingness to wear cups on game day. And the reasons for this seem to vary from player to player.
In this sport, you really can do some damage down there. Cleats, helmets, knees flying around everywhere. We’re talking about some real discomfort in the groin area.
Most of the NFL players don’t wear cups because of restrictive feeling that impedes movement while trying to make lightning-fast cuts and explosive moves. Any potential slippage resulting in a shift of equipment, followed by direct collision, could spell disaster for the player.
It’s funny because when you play football in Little League, they have the cup check before the game. It is a requirement to tap to see if you had a cup.
But once you get to high school and college, you don’t see anybody wearing a cup. It seems like when it comes down to it, everyone has their reasons for neglecting a staple of youth sports – the cup.
Players either have too much faith in their peers, thinking they won’t cheap shot them in the heat of battle, or they’re just too proud to be the only ones on the gridiron wearing that extra piece of protection.
Why don’t professional football players wear cups?
Any of you fellas out there who grew up playing sports surely remember what it was like wearing a protective jock or a cup, mainly if you played hockey, baseball, or football.
It was basically a must in the early days of your sporting career. After all, developing bodies, you got to make sure that you’re protecting yourself, right?
On the other hand, once you make it to the NFL, it’s a different story. It is grown men being paid millions of dollars to perform at the highest level. If they don’t want to wear cups, they won’t. It’s as simple as that.
Former NFL tight end Martellus Bennett told the New York Times: “In my life, at every level, I have never worn a cup. I don’t know anyone who has. I think most guys like to hang out and be free.”
Image issue
And others, well, others seem to look at it as an image issue more than one surrounding physical comfort or performance.
According to one longtime staffer for the Philadelphia Eagles, John Hatfield, who worked for the team outfitting its players for over 25 years, modern players have zero interest in wearing any protective gear.
“If I asked players today if they wanted to wear a cup, the guys would look at me like I was crazy!” – said Hatfield.
Hatfield’s claim was supported by an anonymous player who said:
“If you want to get made fun of by your teammates, wearing a cup would be the fastest way to do it. In all games I’ve played on every level of the game, I’ve only taken a knee down there, once or twice. It’s not the greatest feeling in the world, and no one wants to have thousands of people watching you cupping your nut in distress, but if someone came out wearing a cup, the rest of the team would be like, what’s going on with this dude?”.
The idea that players have too much ego to wear protective gear around their junk does seem to carry some water. It has been supported by many players including former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Dekoda Watson. He told ESPN that he doesn’t know one guy in the NFL that he’s ever seen wearing a cup. “I think the biggest thing is that we as players have too much pride for it,” he said.
Ah yes, the famous tug of war between pride and common sense. Superstars – they are just like us.
Tactical disadvantage
While many players have cited some rather vain concerns for turning their back on the game’s traditional protective equipment, which by the way has been used for well over 100 years, others believe that wearing the clunky equipment puts them at somewhat of a tactical disadvantage.
Even former New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who detailed a brutal incident that took place during practice that pushed him to wear a cup for a brief stint, eventually went back to the sands protection dark side:
“I was in a drill with JPP (Jason Pierre-Paul). We came around and bumped into each other and I went down badly. I had to protect what’s important for the next few weeks,” – he explained.
Umenyiora explored a variety of different methods for protecting his family jewels. He even delved into the relatively uncumbersome version of the cup that’s used in soccer only to decide that he couldn’t go on living this way. For Umenyiora, the risk was worth the ability to move completely without restriction, especially in a sport like football in which every split second matters.
Well, this may come as a surprise to us viewers who are often in shock and awe at the physical beating that these guys take on the field week in and week out, but the sentiment was pretty common throughout the NFL.
Marvin Austin’s horse comparison
Another former defensive tackle Marvin Austin lamented the situation saying, “We know it’s not ideal”, before continuing to explain that he, along with many other linemen in the NFL have tree trunks for legs and that many of them weigh more than 300 pounds.
However, Marvin might not be the most credible candidate to speak on anything safety-related, because during the same interview, he went on to defend his no-cup stance by comparing football players to horses.
“Hey, do you see horses wearing cups” – Marvin asked, then added, “No, they’re running all the time without cups, so are we.”
A little bit of false equivalency, but reasoning aside, he seems to be on the same page with the rest of his colleagues.
Cups controversy in NFL through years
Let’s digress. This admittedly obscure and bizarre topic got brought to the forefront of the national consciousness back in 2012 when then Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh got caught by the cameras delivering a cheap shot of all cheap shots to Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub.
You can see below what he did.
Suh of course, was dealt with by the league receiving a hefty 30 thousand dollar fine as a result of the incident. But I doubt Schaub felt the punishment fit the crime. If I were him, I’d be campaigning for expulsion banishment.
An accident is one thing, but you can literally see Suh look back at Schaub as he delivers the blow.
The bizarre reason why Eli Manning doesn’t like cups
On the other hand, some players like Eli Manning had rather selfish reasons for demanding that teammates, specifically center, did not wear cups when he was the signal-caller.
Manning explained that his aversion to cups dated all the way back to the eighth grade, when one of his teammates was wearing a cup and he found it uncomfortable.
No, it wasn’t the teammate who was uncomfortable, it was Eli and his hand were getting thrust up against the edge of the cup by the force of the snap.
If you ask me, kind of a weak move by Eli to complain about his hand, especially when it involves putting one of his peers manhood on the line while he’s playing a much more dangerous position – a position that involves protecting Manning nonetheless.
Maybe Manning was the one who deserved to be on the end of Suh’s dirty play rather than Schaub.
What makes the Manning comments even worse is the topic was only broached after one of his teammates, defensive tackle Linval Joseph got kicked right in the nads during a scrum that came in the wake of a crucial fumble in a close game.
After watching Washington Redskins offensive lineman Will Montgomery dive headfirst into the pile drilling one of his teammates in the shoulder, Joseph, being a supportive teammate, charged Montgomery and pulled him out of the pile and off the ball.
Montgomery turned around and kicked back, landing one right in Joseph’s groin leading to an epic showing of restraint as Joseph almost retaliated with a full-on stomping but stopped just as he was about to make contact, recognizing it was only going to hurt the team and get him flying to boot.
The league, however, didn’t think too highly of Joseph’s restraint and proceeded to find him 8000 dollars anyway, which leads me to wonder if next time he’ll ensure that he gets his money’s worth when he gets hit with a cheap shot.
Nevertheless, it’s these kinds of plays that can end with devastating results that make the players unwillingness to use the right equipment to protect their nether regions all the more surprising.
Because while I understand and respect their commitment to the game and wanting to ensure maximum mobility or protecting their image or whatever, it’s hard to imagine putting it all out there on the line for a fractional advantage or an added bit of comfort.
Especially when there have been countless instances in which players have ended up much worse off than Matt Schaub or Linval Joseph’s likes.
Virgil Livers’ grape-sized testicle
Consider what happened to a little-known player named Virgil Livers. A former defensive back who played for the Chicago Bears in the mid-70s during one fateful day while fielding a punt.
During a home game at soldier field, Livers took a nasty hit in which the gunner speared him right in the groin. Reportedly the hit was so ferocious that one of his testicles swelled up to the point that the team’s doctor had to use a needle to drain it.
And if that weren’t enough, he actually went back on the field in the second half and finished the game. No wonder all the olden-day players think that today’s players are soft. They were maniacs back then.
But somehow, that wasn’t enough to make people change their outlook on the whole cup situation, which has apparently been the NFL players’ mindset long before Suh’s cheap shot and even Virgil’s disastrous incident.
Players have continued to speak out almost completely in shock that fans don’t understand the solidarity with which they oppose the use of traditional jockstraps.
The discussion again appeared in 2014 when the Denver Broncos were squaring up with the Miami Dolphins in a high scoring hard-fought affair that Denver would eventually take by three points with a final score of 39-36.
But the winning effort was not without any casualties as Von Miller took a nasty shot to the groin area, causing him to miss a large chunk of the action.
And when one Denver Broncos blogger said that he missed most of that drive because he took a hard punch to the groin area and everyone should wear a cup, one former player quickly shut him down.
Chad brown who’s both a pro bowler and an all-pro performer during his lengthy 15-year career in the league, took to Twitter to remind the mile-high report and everyone else that no one wears cups in the NFL.
And when one sports doctor quipped back at him in what appeared to be an act of chest, brown went full macho man on him, reminding him that is why he never played.
I don’t know what it is about the issue of wearing a jockstrap that has everyone in the NFL talking all sorts of crazy.
In case you want to wear a protective cup, we recommend this one (affiliate link).
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