AT Taylor Langon’s Mission for NFL Player Safety

Taylor Langon’s journey from Sacred Heart University to the NFL highlights her role in advancing player safety in professional football.

Langon, who graduated in 2016, now serves as the NFL's first Director of Health and Innovation. Her responsibilities include overseeing injury research, implementing safety interventions, and driving changes aimed at protecting athletes.

“There’s a huge emphasis on the care and protection of the athletes, safety, and longevity. The amount of money that is invested in research and innovation on a regular basis by the NFL [is] to basically put these players in the safest environment as they can.”

Langon is the first full-time Athletic Trainer hired by the NFL office, managing research on concussions, ACL injuries, and other critical player safety issues.

Her work contributed to recent rule changes aimed at reducing high-speed collisions, banning the hip-drop tackle, and introducing Guardian caps—extra helmet padding now commonly seen on the field.

Langon attributes much of her success to her hands-on education at Sacred Heart, where she worked closely with the athletic teams and developed a passion for concussion research.

“When you go to these Power 5 programs…if you’re an undergraduate student, nine times out of ten, you’re not having the hands-on opportunities that students at smaller universities are having.” 

Now at the NFL, Langon continues to shape player safety. Recently, she helped analyze concussion data, showing a decrease in preseason concussions even as kick returns increased by 70 percent under adjusted rules.

Looking ahead, she is also focused on ACL injury prevention, artificial surface research, and developing specialized helmets based on position-specific impacts.

With an eye toward the future, Langon is pursuing a doctorate degree, hoping to “continue to help improve the game, improving health and safety of athletes and players.” For Langon, her work with the NFL is not just about football—it’s a commitment to athlete well-being across all collision sports.

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