When it involves safeties, NFL director of football operations Gene Washington remains steadfast about the concept of safety. His job is to police the game and fine those who make hits that endanger the safety of other players.

In the past three weeks, safeties Kenoy Kennedy of the Broncos and Rodney Harrison of the Chargers were each suspended for one game for his third misuse of his helmet in a year and Darren Woodson and Brian Dawkins were fined $75,000 and $50,000 respectively for helmet hits.

Because the next helmet-to-helmet hit might cost them and their teams three game checks or more, Kennedy and Harrison face a career crisis. Do they adjust their game or do they lose their ability to play it?

	Harrison has been reprimanded by the league previously for hard hits.

On one side of the argument is the league, which obviously is concerned about the safety of players. On the other side are the defensive players, who complain that the league is wimping out and become a sport trying to eliminate the hard-hitting that makes it so popular.

It's a fascinating debate, but the outcome is already determined. Safeties better change the way that they play because the league isn't going to back down. These rules are entrenched. Players who use their helmets as a weapon -- whether intentional or not -- are going to keep getting fined until they get suspended and aren't allowed to wear the helmet.

The reason that safeties are targeted is that they play a position that is unique. Unless they are covering a tight end, the safety is designed to be either the roving assassin or the last line of defense. Their job is to become the eighth defender against the run or the enforcer who punishes ball-carriers or receivers who dare cross the middle of the field.

Unlike others who have more man-to-man responsibilities, safeties can watch the play and then attack. Often they have to make contact after running 20 to 30 yards. Their impacts can rock a stadium. Though their charges may risk their bodies to injury, their collisions can cause damage to the offensive player.

Gene Washington isn't trying to turn this into a game of flag football. What has to change is the technique of the safety. Helmets can't be used to dislodge footballs from defenders. It's too dangerous.

Go back three weeks ago to the Broncos-Dolphins game. Kennedy was not trying to maim Dolphins wide receiver Chris Chambers. As he left his feet, Kennedy aimed his head at the football that Chambers held to the right of his helmet as he was being pulled down by another Broncos defender.

Chambers' head ducked down for whatever reason and Kennedy caught it with his helmet. Chambers suffered a concussion that required him to stay in a hospital an extra day and he missed last Sunday's loss to the Bills. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, at the risk of being fined himself, showed tapes of the hit but the point is being missed.

Players who leave their feet and lead into contact with a helmet are going to get fined. As much as they might want to call their efforts macho, those players, particularly the safeties, are literally banging their heads against a wall that they can't break down. The NFL is outlawing head-hunting with the helmet.

Here's part of the rule:

"…using any part of a player's helmet (including the top/crown and forehead/hairline parts) or facemask to violently and unnecessarily butt, spear or ram an opponent; although such violent and unnecessary use of the helmet and facemask is impermissible against any opponent, game officials will give special attention in administering this rule to protecting those players who are in virtually defenseless postures (e.g., a player in the act of or just after throwing a pass, a receiver catching or attempting to catch a pass…)."

In an effort to understand the safety position better, I called retired safety Mark Carrier, whose 13-year career was shortened because of repeated fines for helmet hits. Like Harrison, Carrier is an intelligent player who is anything but a hired head-hunter. He was fined more than a half-dozen times by the NFL for helmet hits.

Now that he's out of the game and spending time talking about it as a broadcaster, Carrier has a better perspective of what has happened to the safety position. Sure, he has a problem with the way the NFL fines safeties. He argues that too many times the enforcement comes after the fact instead of being handled on the field.

	“	When it comes to hits, you are treated like you failed your drug test. Your record doesn't get expunged. It stays with you. It's unfair, but it could shorten your career. ”
		— Former safety Mark Carrier, on players building reputations from helmet-to-helmet contact

But he now understands that this is the way the NFL is going to enforce the rules on helmet hits.

"How many times do coaches tell players not to do this," Carrier said. "That's what really gets lost in the communication."

Carrier's point is a valid. Safeties have been trained since childhood to do everything possible to force turnovers. Their job is to dislodge the ball from the offensive player. Running from 10-20 yards, the natural instinct is to lower the head and aim the helmet for the ball.

In college and high school, those big hits result in big cheers. In the NFL, partly because bigger bodies are colliding with bigger bodies, those hits mean fines.

Carrier wishes that NFL coaches educate safeties and defenders.

"There is a way to do it," Carrier said. "Obviously, if you go for the knees, no player wants to have the reputation as a dirty player. Going for the knees would make you a dirty player. That's why I say that coaches have to do a better job of teaching. The safest route is to run through the player to make the tackle. There is no safe route. You can still make that impact play. It's just too bang, bang. You are talking about 15 years of coaching and training."

Carrier said the only coach who told him not to make those helmet hits was Ray Rhodes when he was defensive coordinator of the Redskins. Rhodes told him that he was too important to the defense to be lost by a suspension, so Rhodes said to be smart about how he played. Too often, Carrier operated under the idea if he didn't force fumbles with big hits, he was going to be released.

The rules aren't going to change because it doesn't help the NFL to lose top offensive players because of helmet hits. Harrison used his helmet on 40-year-old Jerry Rice. The Dolphins weren't the same without Chambers. Safeties have to be safer about the way they play or else.

"You don't start over every year," Carrier said. "They don't clean your slate every year. When it comes to hits, you are treated like you failed your drug test. Your record doesn't get expunged. It stays with you. It's unfair, but it could shorten your career."

This isn't a bad thing. Safeties can make big hits, but they have to use their bodies more than their heads. It's now the smart thing to do.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.