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Smelling Salts are Actually Not Banned by the NFL, Players Just Have to Supply Them #BYOS
By Kyle Pagan
Published:
BYOS – Bring Your Own Salts! That’s what the NFL is telling players now after it was originally reported that smelling salts were banned:
Players will have to get high on their own supply.
I love that the NFL probably has some comms person on retainer making millions a year that had to draft up a memo to teams that they weren’t banning smelling salts after every football player and football fan complained. The public backlash was obviously too much for the NFL, because the memo they sent to players on Tuesday was pretty straightforward and was even reported by their own website and Mike Garafolo. The NFL is focused on the wrong AIs:
NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo obtained a memo the league sent to teams on Tuesday explaining the decision to ban smelling salts and any other ammonia inhalant during pregame activities, games and halftime on the sideline or locker rooms.
“In 2024, the FDA issued a warning to companies that produce commercially available ammonia inhalants (AIs), as well as to consumers about the purchase and use of AIs, regarding the lack of evidence supporting the safety or efficacy of AIs marketed for improving mental alertness or boosting energy,” the memo stated. “The FDA noted potential negative effects from AI use. AIs also have the potential to mask certain neurologic signs and symptoms, including some potential signs of concussion. As a result, the NFL Head, Neck, and Spine Committee recommended prohibiting the use of AIs for any purpose during play in the NFL.”
What a world. The leader of the crusade against banning selling salts was George Kittle (the only likable 49er) who thought about retirement before the reversal:
Now they pass the buck to the players and give them the free will to use them. There is no doubt in my mind a future concussion lawsuit will be fought by an NFL lawyer on grounds that the league isn’t liable because player X used a smelling salt, which masks concussion symptoms, and they’ll use this memo for evidence. This should be a lighter blog so we don’t have to get into the irony of the NFL banning trainers from carrying smelling salts, but letting them pump athletes full of all the Toradol and pain meds they want. So many things The Shield has to worry about and smelling salts probably wasn’t in the top-100.
Anyway, I’ll never forget my first smelling salt in college. Nothing that could extend a day drink in college into the night like cracking a salt and passing it around the living room to get morale up for a night of 10 beers and an unfathomable amount of head bops to Avicii’s “Levels.”
I just thank god our long national nightmare is over. Now the fellas can binge on all the salts they want before kickoff:
Confirmed – The boys will be buzzin’:
Kyle writes blog posts and does Man on the Street-style videos all around Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University (a basketball school) in 2015. contact: k.pagan@sportradar.com