Tag Archives: NFL

Perhaps it was just a matter of time—with over $750 million committed by the NFL to settle a lawsuit from over 400 players.  Now, three former college football players are suing the NCAA, saying it failed to educate them about the risks of concussions and didn't do enough to prevent, diagnose, and treat brain injuries.

The players who filed the class-action suit in federal court in Chattanooga are Chris Walker and Ben Martin, who recently played for Tennessee, and Dan Ahern, who played for North Carolina State in the 70’s.

The complaint alleges that the NCAA failed to meet its obligation to former players and that because of its neglect the players are suffering the consequences. While details are still in short supply, the suit asks for a medical monitoring program for former football players, to be funded by the NCAA.

A question yet to be answered is why the NCAA was targeted in the suit, but not the players’ respective universities, which may have had more direct knowledge of the players’ health and injuries.

Beyond that, if these players successfully execute suits involving the NCAA, their universities, their athletic departments, their trainers, and/or their coaches, then what is next?  Former high school players, middle school players, even youth players in the city leagues?  And who will be the target —schools, trainers, coaches, even city governments and school boards?

The NFL settlement was certainly the first major step in addressing some of the issues faced by the various participants in this complex subject. Where the next foot will fall will likely become apparent in the near future.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

Our final GelDefender Impact Player is Class of 2006 Hall of Famer Harry Carson. During his 13 years with the New York Giants, Carson suffered his share of concussions (about 10), and now he’s paying for it with post-concussion syndrome.

He has made it his mission to educate others about the dangers of head injury in sports, having experienced the consequences (even, by his own admission, suicidal thoughts). He speaks at high schools and concussion forums to raise awareness and reaches out to those who are already suffering to get them help. He says if he knew the cost when he first started playing, he wouldn’t have played football at all. And though there’s nothing he can do about that decision now, he can and is spreading the word both to those who are now making that choice, so they can make educated decisions, and to those who have already suffered head injury.

It was almost assumed that, when 4,000 other former NFL players started a lawsuit against the NFL, the outspoken Carson would join up – he was even asked to be a lead complainant. But he said no. Asked why?

“People will think that I'm only speaking out for my own financial well-being," he said to Newsweek. "It's more important for me to deliver the message but allow it to stay pure and not have it be influenced by money."

So for his tireless efforts to promote head injury awareness and his open and honest participation in the conversation surrounding the consequences, we name Harry Carson our final Impact Player.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

The next GelDefender Impact Player is former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner. Though he is no longer playing, he still is heavily involved in football conversation and has a significant voice.

In his last season playing, Warner was the target of a suspected bounty hit – a very hard hit – in a game against the Saints. He knows more than anyone how the football’s culture has traditionally encouraged magnifying the violence inherent in the sport, rather than tempering it. He knows what it’s like to play through a potential head injury because stepping out of the game would be frowned upon. He also knows the long-term effects TBI can have, because one of his sons has suffered nearly his whole life from head injury.

So, knowing what he knows about head injury and with these experiences under his belt, he said on the Dan Patrick Show in 2012 that he worried over his sons playing the game that gave him his livelihood. He said that he had come down definitively on the question plaguing the minds of parents everywhere: Do I want my child playing football, knowing what I know about the risk of long-term head injury? He said no, he doesn’t, but that it’s still his children’s decision.

He came under heavy fire for that assertion. His critics called him uneducated and accused him of “throwing football under the bus” after all it’s done for him. And though Warner later issued a statement detailing all the things about football he still loved, he held firm that the violence is a serious matter that needs thought and attention.

"I think it's going to take a whole culture change from top to bottom to say our No. 1 priority is the player," he once told CNN. "That it's not money and it's not how far you go in the playoffs."
And so for his honest and open discussion in regard to head injuries and his continued insistence on the need for greater head safety for players, we name Kurt Warner as the third GelDefender Impact Player.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

Our next GelDefender Impact Player is the current highest-paid player in the NFL, the record-setting Drew Brees. As quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, he is making a stand against head injury, particularly in youth sports.

One of the biggest initiatives he’s taken is a recent partnership with the Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation’s program called PACE – Protecting Athletes Through Concussion Education. The program supplies more than 3,300 middle and high schools and youth sports organizations with free concussion testing using the ImPact system. The concussion evaluation device, used by all NFL and many NHL teams, takes a scientific baseline measurement of cognitive function before a potential concussion to compare with after a hit.

That’s not the only step Brees has taken in educating young players about head injury. In April, he dropped in unexpectedly on a Helmets on Heads program in New Orleans to talk with students about helmet safety and the importance of academics. And last Tuesday he joined a was part of a panel discussing head injury issues, along with former U.S. national goalkeeper Briana Scurry, former NHL goalie Mike Richter, and former NFL linebacker Carl Banks.

It’s no secret that young athletes pay attention when high-profile players like Brees talk. So when he tells them that “getting their bells rung” could really mean “concussion” and shouldn’t be brushed off, they’ll listen, possibly better than when their parents or even their coaches tell them. And for his willingness to dedicate time and energy toward raising awareness among our youth, he has earned his place as the second GelDefender Impact Player.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

Willie Lanier, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker from 1967-77 and Pro Football Hall of Famer since 1986, takes a well-deserved place as the first GelDefender Impact Player. He was renowned for the hard hits he delivered during his rookie season until the game during which he took a knee to his head. He shook off the wooziness from what he knew to be a concussion and continued as normal until the game a week later, when he suddenly collapsed during a break in play. He didn’t regain consciousness for two hours. Eventually, the Mayo Clinic diagnosed him with a subdural hematoma: he was bleeding into his brain.

Once he’d recovered and was back in the game, Lanier decided that in order to protect himself, changes needed to be made. He chose to wear a modified helmet with extra padding on the outside to protect his head, an early approximation of what GelDefender is doing now.

He also resolved to never again lead with his head when tackling, instead wrapping himself around opponents. Between his first and second season, his nickname changed from “Contact” to “Honey Bear.” Looking back, having achieved both a wildly successful career and good health today at age 67, he has no reason to regret the concessions he made to protect himself.

Today, Lanier is a member of the NFL's Player Safety Advisory Committee and works to encourage other players to follow his example to take ownership of their own head’s safety by playing safer and smarter.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

Now that the NFL draft has been completed, 224 draftees and an undefined number of free agents are making plans to strap on their helmets and work to earn a spot on a team.
 

In 2012 the big news was how many rookie quarterbacks were opening day starters. This year, it’s how few quarterbacks were drafted in prominent rounds.
 

Florida State’s E.J. Manuel was taken by Buffalo but was the lone QB picked in the first round.
 

Second-rounder Geno Smith will have a shot at immediate playing time as part of the Jets dreadful offense, but the remainder of the 11 quarterbacks taken—with the exception of Southern Cal’s Matt Markley—are longer-term projects.
 

Matt Barkley, taken in the fourth round by the Eagles, looks to be one of the most intriguing picks. Injuries and a weaker Southern Cal team dropped his stock in 2013, and arm-strength questions remain. But Michael Vick’s 2013 performance was nothing memorable and new coach Chip Kelly will be looking for any way to score points.
 

The 2013 NFL preseason kicks off Sunday, August 4, when the Dallas Cowboys face the Miami Dolphins in Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio.
 

The defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens lead off the regular season with a Thursday night game on September 5.
 

Three days later, Bills fans will find out if Manuel will have the reins when Buffalo tees it up against New England. That same first Sunday of the season, the Jets may have West Virgina’s Smith under center against Tampa Bay.
 

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

The NFL draft has become perhaps the most important annual sports activity that involves no activity on the field.

When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell strides to the podium Thursday night—shortly after 8 p.m. ET—to announce the first selection in the 2013 draft, he’ll be in front of a packed house at Radio City Music Hall in New York and over 8 million viewers on ESPN and the NFL Network.

Such viewership, not even including months of pre-draft speculation and post-draft analyses, makes the NFL draft a television powerhouse that approximates viewership for hallmark sports events such as the final round of the U.S. Open, the Indy 500, NBA playoffs and most NASCAR events.

Typically, given the geography, fans of the New York Giants and New York Jets dominate the live audience and annually provide collective groans or cheers depending upon the fan view of the choices made by team executives.

This year, it is likely that the most vocal of those reactions will come from fans of the Jets, who watched their team end a disappointing 2012 season plagued by the Mark Sanchez/Tim Tebow quarterback puzzle and are now debating the pros and cons of the recent trade of star quarterback Darrelle Revis to Tampa Bay for the Bucs 13th pick in the first round and a chump change pick in 2014.

Jets fans unhappy with current starting quarterback Sanchez may plead for West Virginia QB Geno Smith, but the Jets are most likely to grab LSU linebacker Barkevious Mingo if he’s still available.

After several years packed with quarterback talents including Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck and Cam Newton, Smith may be the only QB taken in the first round, with Matt Barkley of Southern Cal and Ryan Nassib of Syracuse slipping to Friday night’s second round.

Most of those considered in the “can’t miss” category in 2013 are beefy offensive and defensive tackles. If Kansas City doesn’t trade down, watch for Notre Dame’s Luke Joeckel or Texas A&M’s Eric Fisher to be called first by Goodell as the Chiefs try to keep new QB Alex Smith protected from the concussion problems that knocked him out mid-season in 2012.

The first round of the draft concludes Thursday night, rounds 2-3 are Friday evening and rounds 4-7 are Saturday afternoon.
 

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

The National Football League Players Association wants to team up with Harvard University for a comprehensive study on a broad topic: that which ails football players. And it’s willing to pay $100 million over the course of 10 years to see it happen.

The Players Association is in negotiations with the NFL to start a study that would be used to better diagnose, treat, and prevent player injuries and illnesses, according to a proposal obtained by CNN. That’s any injuries and illnesses, not just head injuries. The research will aim to look at football players across their careers and pinpoint what particular positions and actions cause particular physical problems later on.

The study would be unprecedented in both scope and resources as it relates to NFL player health, according to the Players Association. Initially, the research pool will encompass 1,000 current and former players, who will undergo a series of tests and exhaustive reviews of their playing and injury histories.

The 100 healthiest and the 100 least healthy will then participate in further study over the next several years at Harvard, where hundreds of scientists would potentially be participating. The idea is to discover how the physical and psychological stresses unique to football players come together over long careers and affect the player.

A study of this scope could lead to discoveries that have profound impacts on the health of future football players. And while the research is certainly not going to find the answers to everything which ails football players, it could certainly shed light on and improve the detection, treatment, and prevention of some maladies. And that’s worth $100 million dollars.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

In a recent interview with The New Republic, President Obama was asked a tough question that lurks in the minds of football fans everywhere: Does he “take less pleasure in watching football, knowing the impact that the game takes on its players”?

It’s an uncomfortable question – not one with a cut-and-dry answer and not one we like to contemplate. Now that we know how harmful those hard hits are to the men making them and the men taking them, are we still just as happy to watch the concussions-in-progress as we were when ignorance was bliss?

The President, a self-proclaimed football fan, acknowledged the danger and need to change. He said football fans, himself included, are going to have to come to terms with the idea that the game might have to become less exciting in order to make it safer for the players, and then perhaps fans “won't have to examine our consciences quite as much.” He admitted that if he had a son, he’d have to think long and hard before letting him play the game.

He also stated that he worries about college players more than NFL players. He said NFL players are unionized and old enough to make the decision to takes the risks, and most are “well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies.” One the other hand, he said college players are younger and have nothing to fall back on when faced with brain injury.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

This past weekend yielded several incidents that piqued curiosity and started some very serious conversations in the sports world.

The first is the rise (and fall) of two relatively obscure cornerbacks in Seattle. Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner were quickly becoming two of the biggest reasons the Seattle Seahawks have the NFL’s number one secondary. For both of these players, this placement is a giant step in the right direction. Both were late-round picks and cut from the Canadian Football League. However, following suspicion that they were playing a bit above their talent, both cornerbacks were tested for PEDs. The tests found positive results for Adderall, and now both face four game suspensions if their appeals are disregarded.

Another of our highlights hit hard – literally. After taking a hard hit on Sunday, Denver QB Peyton Manning was taken into the locker room and evaluated for “concussion-like” symptoms. The jury is still out on whether or not he suffered an actual concussion, but one thing is clear. After the incredible year the Denver Broncos are having at the hands of Peyton Manning, they can’t afford the possibility of losing him for two weeks due to a concussion.

In other NFL news, longtime Jets superfan Ed Anzalone is retiring as “Fireman Ed,” a surprise to many fans, as he has been an iconic figure in the Jets Metlife Stadium seats. Although he attributes his decision to unruly Jets fans who taunt him into confrontations, many suspect the Jets’ terrible state is fueling his choice to hang up his helmet. He is well-known for having received the game ball from coach Rex Ryan after the Jets upset the Patriots in 2009. Whatever the reason may be, it is truly a sad day for Jets fans everywhere.

What was your favorite highlight from the weekend?

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.