In recent years, I've noticed that players don't have pads over their knees. What is the reason for going away from this? Do they limit movement? Do they not really provide protection? I ask because when I was playing football, I had a couple of bad knee injuries even with knee pads that possibly kept me from playing basketball at the collegiate level.

And I had to add "football" to the title because I know some of you yahoos would have said something about that time of the month

The guys that have knee pads don't have girlfriends.

The way that I've heard it by a lot of wide receivers, qb's, etc...is that they feel more comfortable without them. Better range of motion and whatnot. Also, like you said, it's not going to stop an injury so why bother?

No it's because they give them to their gf's because bj's.

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that possibly kept me from playing basketball at the collegiate level.

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Lolz

Pads and football uniforms have changed quite a bit in the last 10-15-20 years.
Personally I'm not a fan of the small shoulder pads and skin tight jerseys.
Hip pads are a thing of the past

I liked the old school look.. Hip pads, oversized jersey and shoulder pads, the shiny jersey and pants



These are football uniforms to me


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I could actually run fast when I didn't have something tight wrapped around my knee that prevented it from moving the way it should.

The old hip/tailbone pads were tied in with the belt. The old thigh and knee pads were placed in pockets in the pants.

The modern pads are built in to a girdle or in to the pants themselves.

In my experience, the thigh and knee pads were kind of a waste of time. All I really cared about having were shoulder pads and helmet.

Guessing you weren't a running back. Thigh pads saved my legs from a lot of injuries.

From photographs it appears some wear knee pads and some don't. For example, I found photos of Kyle Allen from last season and he wore them. Looks like everyone still wears thigh pads. I see no photo evidence that hip pads are worn though; are they?

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The old hip/tailbone pads were tied in with the belt.

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We snapped those into the pants in the late 70s. One side of the snaps were built into the pants.

I hated the knee pads. Always having to adjust them and just didn't feel right.

I notice no one complaining about the guys not wearing the tailbone pads anymore

During the Jerry Rice & Michael Irvin era I seem to remember the thigh & knee pads disappearing on WR's. Less for the defenders to grab.

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From photographs it appears some wear knee pads and some don't. For example, I found photos of Kyle Allen from last season and he wore them. Looks like everyone still wears thigh pads. I see no photo evidence that hip pads are worn though; are they?

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The hip/tail bone pads are built into the spandex they wear under their pants. First I remember wearing these was when I was a sophomore in high school in 2005.

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From photographs it appears some wear knee pads and some don't. For example, I found photos of Kyle Allen from last season and he wore them. Looks like everyone still wears thigh pads. I see no photo evidence that hip pads are worn though; are they?

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The hip/tail bone pads are built into the spandex they wear under their pants. First I remember wearing these was when I was a sophomore in high school in 2005.

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This. Everyone has hip and tailbone pads. They just stopped being ******ly obvious. Knee pads are completely worthless. Thigh pads suck until you get drilled in the thigh. Then you will wish you had a thigh pad. That blows.

They had spandex sports with built-in hip & tail pads by 94
Our school didn't have them, but guys were issued these padded shorts at the coaches association all star game.

I'd imagine that the pads are lighter, thinner and less visible by a huge factor compared to the 90s

Seems like a lot of LBs, DBs,and WRs go without the knee pads, likely for speed issues

Is like to hear from some of you HS coaches. Is it optional at that level? I'm guessing not?

I always assumed the technology got better so the pads could be smaller and less restrictive.

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Guessing you weren't a running back. Thigh pads saved my legs from a lot of injuries.

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You guess correctly. Something about not being very fast.

In many ways the game has become less physical. In the "old days" the helmet wasn't so much head protection as it was your primary weapon. That's not a knock on the current state of play; with the size, speed and strength of players today, guys would get killed if they still played with the same headhunter mentality. Different tactics, different gear.

The NCAA requires knee pads, but has no actual requirement that they cover the knee. And enforcement is not tremendously strict by most accounts.

I think if you look real close, most players will have knee pads, they're just often small and not necessarily on the knee.

The UIL has an explicit exception to the NCAA that requires kids' knee pads to actually cover the knee.


I've heard knee pads help a little bit, I've also heard they help protect others who take a knee to their chin or whatever. I don't know if they actually do or not.

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In many ways the game has become less physical. In the "old days" the helmet wasn't so much head protection as it was your primary weapon. That's not a knock on the current state of play; with the size, speed and strength of players today, guys would get killed if they still played with the same headhunter mentality. Different tactics, different gear.

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Lol

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Pads and football uniforms have changed quite a bit in the last 10-15-20 years.
Personally I'm not a fan of the small shoulder pads and skin tight jerseys.
Hip pads are a thing of the past

I liked the old school look.. Hip pads, oversized jersey and shoulder pads, the shiny jersey and pants



These are football uniforms to me


?resize=760%2C640

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These are dumb to me

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They had spandex sports with built-in hip & tail pads by 94
Our school didn't have them, but guys were issued these padded shorts at the coaches association all star game.

I'd imagine that the pads are lighter, thinner and less visible by a huge factor compared to the 90s

Seems like a lot of LBs, DBs,and WRs go without the knee pads, likely for speed issues

Is like to hear from some of you HS coaches. Is it optional at that level? I'm guessing not?

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Is that the year they did away with the cup too?

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The NCAA requires knee pads, but has no actual requirement that they cover the knee. And enforcement is not tremendously strict by most accounts.

I think if you look real close, most players will have knee pads, they're just often small and not necessarily on the knee.

The UIL has an explicit exception to the NCAA that requires kids' knee pads to actually cover the knee.


I've heard knee pads help a little bit, I've also heard they help protect others who take a knee to their chin or whatever. I don't know if they actually do or not.

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UIL no longer has the exception.

The knee pad should be required as in the days of yore, but not for protecting your knee. It is to protect whoever you are driving your knee into.

7 pads are still required, at a minimum half inch thickness.

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Pads and football uniforms have changed quite a bit in the last 10-15-20 years.
Personally I'm not a fan of the small shoulder pads and skin tight jerseys.
Hip pads are a thing of the past

I liked the old school look.. Hip pads, oversized jersey and shoulder pads, the shiny jersey and pants



These are football uniforms to me


?resize=760%2C640

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Not to mention, there was also a lot more surface area with which to hit with your shoulders.

Something else to consider is the surfaces that players play on these days are usually of much higher quality and are not rock hard like some used to be. Falling on your knees on Kyle Field today isn't going to hurt near as much as it did when it was astro turf.

Bring back Shoulder-ma-pads

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From photographs it appears some wear knee pads and some don't. For example, I found photos of Kyle Allen from last season and he wore them.

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There's a joke here... I'm sure of it.

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Something else to consider is the surfaces that players play on these days are usually of much higher quality and are not rock hard like some used to be. Falling on your knees on Kyle Field today isn't going to hurt near as much as it did when it was astro turf.

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That was pretty dumb

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The knee pad should be required as in the days of yore, but not for protecting your knee. It is to protect whoever you are driving your knee into.

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UIL, like the NCAA before them, decided that this was a) a rare occurrence b) didn't really produce an injury no either side and c) the pad didn't protect very well anyway. Broken kneecaps may occur in football but sprained knees and worse are much more common.

Also, the problem with knee pads in high school, especially for smaller schools, was that pants that fit to begin the season didn't fit (length wise) in week 7.