with all the ncaa concern about player safety, why no knee pads anymore?

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all the players wear them above the knee

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Good point, high school officials will stop a game and pull a player if their knee pads aren't low enough.

Not sure why this isn't enforced at other levels.

I also grew up with a lot of NBA players with kneepads (different kind) but you don't see those at all anymore.

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thin piece of foam

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not all knee pads are thin pieces of foam, but of course, the thicker or substantial the pad the more restrictive it will be, which is probably why fewer and fewer players use an effective knee pad anymore. I guess there is a legitimate point that since some knee pads are more restrictive then it may be actually safer for qb, receivers, and rbs not to use that type, so most of those players might reason that if less is better, then none at all is best.

Evidently not everybody agrees with you two

LINK

Knee pads can be an effective protectant during physical activities for work, during sports and recreation... the Bastyr Center for Natural Health reports that use of knee pads was associated with a 56% decrease in risk of knee injury for high schools athletes.

When I played back in the 70-80's we had to wear large girdle type hip pads and huge shoulder pads. You don't see anybody wearing those anymore.

It's been a long time since high school, but I think they helped with ground contact, which happened a lot more than getting hit by another player from the side.