NFL insider: Guardian Caps will be just as common as seat belts

The NFL announced in April that it would permit players to wear Guardian Caps, padded coverings on top of traditional football helmets, in games starting this season.

The optional safety measure was met with mixed reactions from fans online due to the caps' odd appearance, but players seem to be trying them out with franchise players like Jonathan Taylor using one during the Indianapolis Colts' first preseason game Sunday.

ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter suggested Monday on "The Pat McAfee Show" that Guardian Caps will become a common sight in the league given time.

"We used to see hockey back in the day where players never wore helmets, we used to have people driving cars that never wore seatbelts, and I don't think this is going to happen overnight but I think we're eventually going to look back and we're going to see some of the great players of this sport having played this game with little helmets that didn't protect their brains and you're going to see more and more people gravitating towards this because it's a safer way to play," Schefter said.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE , is a brain injury commonly seen in former NFL players and is one of the main reasons the league shifted in-game policy in favor of Guardian Cap usage.

"For me it's only a matter of time before this becomes more and more regular," Schefter added.

Guardian Caps do have an odd appearance when covering a normal helmet but teams are providing custom coverings that mimic the outside of a standard issue team helmet — logo and all.

There are still two more weeks of preseason to see if more players decide to try them out, but the real precedent-setting test will be if any take the bold step of wearing them Week 1 and beyond.