80 Miles of Athletic Tape Every Sunday

In football, injuries are common. There is something about grown men playing their best on the gridiron that seems to “bring on the pain.” Luckily, football players have trainers to keep them performing at their best. And these trainers have athletic tape: lots of it.

Athletic tape is the twelfth man every Sunday in the NFL. From linebackers to defensive ends, pound-for-pound, there is a lot of athletic tape going into every huddle. It is wrapped on ankles and supporting calf muscles, it is protecting ribs and securing fingers and fractures beneath the uniforms of both teams.

Not to mention all the pads and shoes it helps hold into place.

It has been estimated that 80 miles of athletic tape are used by most football teams on any given game day. This supports the idea of support, it seems.

Time and again, some fierce action on the field leaves players needing to support broken fingers or get through a muscle strain and not leave the game. But with just a few minutes on the sidelines, the trainers have them wrapped securely in athletic tape, banged and bruised but still ready to serve their team’s needs.

The twelfth man.

It would probably be an accurate guess to think that at some point, every professional football player has relied on athletic tape for some reason. There is always a sprain, or strain or fracture in the history of every devoted player. Luckily, 80 miles of athletic tape divides among 11 players many times over, when necessary.

Athletic tape is there when it is needed – it is a clutch player in a game of seconds. If a player comes to the sidelines battered and bruised, all the coaching in the world won’t help support or protect his injuries. The coaching is a vital part of the win, but the athletic tape is what holds everything together to cross the finish line.

So fans may believe that they are the ones to offer their teams support when things are getting rough. But in football, there is at least 80 miles of evidence left at the scene of every confrontation that might suggest otherwise.