Among one of the odder wars between the NFL and their own players this season has been the recent ban on NFL teams supplying smelling salts and other ammonia-style inhalants by the NFL, which frustrated a lot of players.
It started on Tuesday, with San Francisco 49ers’ star TE George Kittle breaking the news on the ban to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
Since then, multiple NFL players have spoken out against the ban, including big names like Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ QB Baker Mayfield. “I think the reasoning is because it masks concussion symptoms, but if you get knocked out, which is the whole purpose of smelling salts to wake you up, you’re not allowed back in the game,” Mayfield said. “I think it was a quick trigger to ban em.”
The Los Angeles Chargers’ NFLPA player representative Josh Harris also raised questions about the ban.
Again, it’s worth noting that the NFL isn’t banning smelling salts outright, but the distribution of them by NFL teams. ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler, obtained the message the NFLPA about the smelling salt ban.
So maybe we see players do what Mayfield said and bring their own juice to games. How would you make your own smelling salts? That feels like an episode of Breaking Bad.
The NFL’s ban on smelling salts feels like it probably should’ve happened earlier. Not because of any inherent harm or danger to players, but because the league has tried so hard to clean up their image around concussions and concussion-like symptoms. The league has been at the forefront of new helmet usage, making new caps to wear on top of the helmet and other scientific research to help mitigate concussions, so smelling salts lasting all the way until 2025 feels like an accomplishment.
How you would make your own smelling salts? Well, that feels like an episode of Breaking Bad waiting to happen.
