Brain Injuries: The Role Of Concussions In Professional Football

The NFL is about to go into one of the most unwanted territories it has ever been into, but this is definitely an issue that it needs to grasp before they are to deep into it and this is the issue of head injuries sustained by players. This issue is overwhelmingly forcing the hands of player’s future careers. This is something that our society has never seen before with things such as players retiring one to two years into their career due to the scare that head injuries have on these players. Along with after players retire they are receiving statements from these players saying that the NFL doesn’t do enough in the protection of head injuries. The NFL has had considerable problems with concussions dating all the way back to the 1900’s (Powell,

In “The NFL Dodges on Brain Injuries” Hruby talks about how truly a big deal these brain injuries are becoming and that “ninety-six-perfect of former NFL players show some type of brain damage most often linked with concussions” (Hruby, 2014). Although these players receiving hit after hit, whether the player is blocking an opposing player or the defensive player coming in for the big hit, players are inflicting high amounts of contact on one another, which is resulting in each and every play. In an interview conducted by ESPN with Wesley Woodyard a linebacker for the Tennessee Titans, he talked about the extreme amount of contact in the sport. He was quoted saying "Definitely with all the new information coming out about CTE it 's cause for concern for parents. We 're taking the right strides as far as keeping the game safe -- safety is definitely going to always be No. 1. If my son wants to play, it will be his decision. But I 'm definitely going to make sure he doesn 't play until he 's, maybe, 12 years old. I started at 6, and I 'm definitely not going to allow him to play at that age. Throughout the years you just continue to build up and pound your body, and bad stuff ends up happening from that” (Trotter, 2016). The fact that former and current NFL players are coming forward to express concern about the safety of their children potentially playing football points to the growing issue that

Along with this one the NFL has introduced many other rules to try and protect the players and eliminate some of the contact. One rule the has been put in place for the 2016-2017 season is a new touchback rule. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a touchback is defined as “a situation in football in which the ball is down behind the goal line after a kick or intercepted forward pass after which it is put in play by the team defending the goal on its own 20-yard line” (“Merriam-Webster Dictionary). While this is the definition that we have all came to understand as a touchback, the new rule has changed the yard mark in which the ball will be brought out to upon a touchback. Now when the player downs the football behind the goal line the ball will be brought out to the 25-yard line. One might question how this would change the game, but the types of plays that have the most touchbacks are kick returns and punt returns. In an article written by theatlantic.com it states that “the kick return is the most dangerous play in football” (Chandler, 2016). Due to the fact that players are flying down the field as fast as they possibly can to make a possible hit and force a fumble upon the player returning the ball. Although the rule only advances the ball five more yards this could make a huge difference by players not taking the ball out of the end zone nearly as much causing more