In January 2005, Chris Canty was involved in an altercation that left him with a detached retina. His eye was healed, but he had to wear this facemask as a precautionary measure:
His look evolved to become even grill-ier in his stint with the New York Giants...
... and then the Baltimore Ravens:
Though Canty wore it out of necessity, his look caught among teammates and around the league:
Many players already had their facemasks struck down by the league, and now the NFL is apparently outlawing any non-standard masks without medical clearance:
The NFL already has a reputation as the No Fun League, so is this another case of the NFL being too, ahem, uniform with its uniforms and thereby striking down individual expression, or is it a necessary end to a fad that had run its course?
Tuesday morning update >>