Football Gloves Buyers Guide
What are the differences between lineman and receivers football gloves?
Football gloves improve your performance on the gridiron by protecting your hands and giving you extra grip to control the ball. Depending on your needs on the field, your gloves should offer either more protection or more grip, as well as other variables, such as weight, flexibility, and fit.
Receivers Gloves - Receivers and running backs need to control and hold onto the ball, while remaining light and agile through traffic. Gloves designed for these players feature:
- Enhanced palm grip
- Extended tack from the palm, around the fingers, and up the thumb
- Light padding on the back hand to protect from impact
- Lightweight, flexible construction
Lineman Gloves - Lineman take the hardest hits on the field, so their gloves are built tough, to protect their hands and fingers from damage, abrasion, and hyperextension. Most lineman gloves feature:
- Rigid frames and finger stays to prevent fingers from bending back when holding back the other line
- Heavier, more durable materials than receiver gloves, to withstand more abuse
- Little to no tackiness in the palm
- Improved palm and backhand padding, to protect from impacts
How do I find the best football gloves for me?
To find the best football glove for you, it's important to first understand what type of glove you're looking for. What is your position? What is your age or skill level? Once you have a better idea of the category of football glove you need, you should look for gloves within your budget which offer exactly what you need to improve your game.
To narrow down your search, check out the descriptions of each category below, and click the link that bests describes you:
- Adult Skill Position Football Gloves - High school age and older, playing in skill positions such as running back, wide receiver, tight end, and quarterback
- Adult Lineman / Linebacker Football Gloves - High school age and older, playing in defensive positions on the line, such as linebacker or lineman
- Youth Football Gloves - Youth players in elementary or middle school, playing any position
- Football Coaches Gloves - Coaches of any age and skill level looking for more comfort and warmth on the sidelines, without sacrificing dexterity, during cold-weather practices and game days.
What type of grip does each football glove offer?
Different brands design their gloves with different types and styles of palm grip, to give you extra tackiness and control on the ball. Almost exclusively designed for receiver gloves, these various types of grip perform slightly differently, depending on conditions and durability:
- Cutters C-Tack ? Exclusive to Cutters gloves and one of the most popular and long-lasting grip styles on the field, C-Tack provides permanent tacky grip that actually restores when you wash it.
- Armour GrabTack ? Under Armour gloves have palm material provides an extremely sticky grip, which is extended over the thumb for added ball control
- Neumann Tackified Leather Palm ? Found in the classic Neumann receiver gloves, this basic leather palm fits tightly, giving players a natural feel and grip on the ball.
- Adidas Seamless Double-Coated High-Gloss Silicone Palm ? Found in Adidas football gloves, this palm material provides a solid grip that extends around the thumb.
What features should I look for in my next pair of football gloves?
Advanced football gloves provide a variety of added features and benefits to protect the hand, improve comfort, and enhance performance. You?ll find a lot of the following features in advanced gloves from the most trusted brands in the game:
- Added Ventilation - Modern football gloves utilize mesh between the fingers, and ventilated backhands to improve air flow, dump hot air, and generally keep the hands cool, dry, and comfortable.
- Padding - Lightweight, flexible foam padding in the backhand and palm are typical in advanced lineman gloves, and help soften impacts to protect the hand.
- High Quality Materials - Great football gloves utilize high-quality materials to perform in all weather conditions. Their improved strength keeps them functioning season after season. Look for stretchable, synthetic materials with seamless or reinforced seamed construction.
- Aggressive Style - The latest football gloves are coming out in incredible cool, aggressive styles and colors, with interesting palm configurations. Style is always an important factor, because when you look good, you play good!