Cardinals players chime in on topic of player safety

The Cardinals, like every other NFL team, know what it’s like to lose significant players on their roster for long stretches of the season (i.e. Kevin Kolb & Dan Williams) due to injury.

Injuries are part of the game, considering guys are flying at each other at 100 miles an hour (or maybe it just seems like they’re moving that fast).

With some recent findings from Nike CEO Mark Parker on NBA player safety, NFL Commissioner decided to go back to the lab and implement some changes for next season to ensure the safety of his players.

Parker told Goodell that NBA players’ lower bodies are well padded, with thigh and knee pads, something that a good majority of NFL players don’t wear, namely wide receivers and secondary personnel.

As you can expect, there will be some player opposition, and there’s no telling what the league will do to punish those who decide not to wear the padding, but for players like linebacker Daryl Washington, he believes the extra padding will make the game much safer.With that in mind, Goodell and the league decided to make it mandatory for players to wear thigh and knee pads, starting in the 2013 season.

“I think it is a good statement,” Washington said. “Why not make it a safe game for all the players? Including those thigh pads and knee pads makes the game a lot safer I believe.”

Running back LaRod Stephens-Howling already subscribes to the padding notion and wears both the thigh and knee pads for protection.

Stephens-Howling says those players who don’t wear them will have to “make adjustments.”

“Being a running back, I’m scared to go out without them,” he said.

Of course, you’ll hear the argument “the extra padding will slow the players down,” but Washington believes just the opposite.

“As long as I know my assignment, I’ll play fast regardless,” he said.