Buffalo Bills safety Taylor Rapp was forced to miss the Week 5 game after suffering a concussion the week before. Rapp has since been cleared to play and will return to “Monday Night Football” in Week 6 against the New York Jets.

Rapp will be wearing new headgear in the primetime match.

On Monday night, Rapp will become the first Bills player to wear the Guardian hat in a game.

“Absolutely I’m wearing it,” Rapp told The Buffalo News on Thursday. “I enjoyed wearing (the hat) during training camp and (also) switched to the new helmet. It was definitely something I (already) thought about.”

Rapp has suffered concussions previously in his career while previously playing for the Los Angeles Rams.

Invented by Guardian Sports in 2010, the Guardian Cap is scientifically proven to work in a similar way to airbags in a vehicle.

Here is a direct quote from the Guardian Sports website regarding the Guardian caps:

Physics says that an external “soft” material with the right density, rigidity and energy-absorbing properties reduces the initial severity of the impact. Lower forces are then transmitted to the hard shell, which in turn transmit lower forces to the soft inner padding of the helmet and in turn transmit lower forces to the head. Very similar to a NASCAR driver and the soft wall technology that has taken over the race tracks, or even automobiles and the soft bumpers and airbags that are now required. The Guardian Cap serves the same purpose as an athlete's head – a softshell barrier between him and the impact.

Given Rapp's previous head injuries and his downhill game, the cap makes a lot of sense as he recovers from his recent concussion.

In the NFL, only a handful of players have worn the cap in the last six weeks. This number is likely to continue to rise as more and more players realize the benefits. The Bills and Rapp using them as a post-concussion precaution seems like a good idea for the player and the team. Maybe this is a trend we will see in the future.