How NFL Players Are Affected by Concussions After Retirement
Years of head traumas take heavy tolls on NFL veterans
Concussions have been a part of the NFL since its beginning, but only recently have we discovered the injury's long lasting effects.
Many studies have been conducted to understand how much the head trauma football players endure during their careers affect their lives after retirement. Scientists have found a strong connection between the repeated head blows occurring during their time as athletes and diseases developed post career.
For example, A Washington Post survey from 2013 found that “nine in 10 former NFL players reported suffering concussions while playing, and nearly six in 10 reported three or more.” Two in three of those players continue to feel symptoms from their concussions to this day.
NFL slow in assessing the dangers of concussions
Concussions weren’t diagnosed well during the time many NFL veterans played and, quite frankly, they weren’t taken very seriously. The NFL created the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) Committee in 1994 and appointed New York Jets team doctor, Dr. Elliot Pellman, as the chairman. This what Dr. Pellman told Newsday when he was asked about concussions:
“We think the issue of knees, of drugs and steroids and drinking is a far greater problem [than concussions], according to the number of incidents” (PBS).
Players knew even less than the doctors about the dangers of concussions and were told to keep playing as long as they weren’t knocked out. Many obeyed for fear of appearing soft and potentially losing their jobs.
“None of us knew anything about concussions,” NFL veteran Bobby Jackson recalled. “If coaches saw you were tired or weak, they preyed on that. There was this stigma of being weak, and you never wanted to get that label.”
Jackson suffered multiple injuries during his nine year career with the New York Jets as a cornerback and punt returner. Now 65, the veteran still deals with pain on a daily basis from injuries sustained many years ago, despite retiring before the age of 30.
Some of the injuries he sustained in his career include a broken forearm, a broken finger in his right hand, and a ruptured hamstring. Jackson also had a herniated disk in his neck that he still suffers from.
Jackson says he doesn’t remember ever getting diagnosed with a concussion during his career, though believes he had several.
“It was always getting your bell rung, how many fingers can you see,” Jackson said. “It was not very scientific.”
Jackson remembers getting knocked unconscious at least twice while playing in the NFL. He also got knocked out once when retrieving a punt in college while playing for Florida State University.
“Luckily I didn’t fumble the ball, and we were playing against the University of Alabama in Alabama so that was a very memorable game for me,” Jackson said. “I woke up and I still had the ball.”
Photo by Shorthand
Photo by Shorthand
Photo by Bobby Jackson
Photo by Bobby Jackson
Photo by Bobby Jackson
Photo by Bobby Jackson
Photo by Bobby Jackson
Photo by Bobby Jackson
Photo by Clark Gaines
Photo by Clark Gaines
Photo by Clark Gaines
Photo by Clark Gaines
Photo by Susanne Gaines
Photo by Susanne Gaines
Gaines and the NFLPA stand up against the owners
Clark Gaines was a teammate of Bobby Jackson who suffered multiple concussions and a broken leg as a running back for the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs. Now 68, he still suffers pain from his back and knee surgeries and has short-term memory loss.
Gaines also represented the NFL’s Players Union (NFLPA) in order to advocate for players’ rights and to improve their salaries. As Assistant Executive Director of the NFLPA, Gaines had to make the difficult decision of convincing players to go on strike against the owners. He was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs a week after voicing his concerns to Jets' president Jim Kensil.
“I told [Kensil] I would take the players out on strike, and I would be the first one outside with a picket sign,” Gaines said.
Gaines’ involvement allowed for players to be well compensated as free agents and receive improved health and retirement benefits. He believes that, although the benefits for NFL veterans have gotten better, there’s still improvements to be made.
CTE demands that more be done
Something Gaines also thinks hasn’t been addressed enough by the NFL is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). CTE describes brain degeneration likely caused by repeated head traumas (Mayo Clinic).
“So many former players are experiencing issues due to CTE and frankly there is nowhere to turn for help,” Gaines said. “This must change, and I am hopeful the new generation of leaders will take this on to make it a priority.”
Some players who committed suicide shortly after their NFL careers were determined to have CTE. Among those players are Junior Seau, Terry Long, Dave Duerson and Ray Easterling.
A Boston University study conducted in 2017 found that 110 out of 111 NFL players studied were diagnosed with CTE. Their brains were donated for the study after they died, since the disease cannot currently be detected until after death.
Other brains examined included Canadian Football League players (7 of 8 had CTE), college football players (48 of 53 had CTE) and high school players (3 of 14 had CTE).
CTE can be developed in any athlete at any time
Bobby Abdolmohammadi is a research data analyst at the Boston University CTE Center who says the disease can occur at any point throughout a football player’s career.
“In some athletes who have died young and during their playing days, CTE has been found, indicating that for at least some athletes, CTE can develop while they are still playing,” Abdolmohammadi said.
According to Megan Ryder, a research assistant at the CTE Center, a player doesn’t have to be diagnosed with a concussion to have CTE, because they're also the result of sub concussive blows.
"It’s indicative of whether or not you have CTE but it’s not the distinguishing criteria,” Ryder said. “We go more by years of play and level of play - college, professional – and how early they started.”
Ryder said that when examining brains, they divide the subjects into two categories: those who have cognitive decline (memory loss, impulsivity, apathy, etc.), and those who have behavioral decline first, followed by cognitive decline.
Ryder believes that the nature of the NFL makes it impossible for injuries not to happen. In regards to CTE research, it’s a matter of separating head impacts from person-to-person collisions.
“[Football] is in essence a violent sport, and it takes that brutality into play when you’re playing the game,” Ryder said.
Jackson: "They don't care about the safety, it's entertainment."
Bobby Jackson doesn’t think the NFL truly cares about the health of players, though.
“The NFL will never run out of guys, because there’s always going to be guys whose goal is to be where I was and to make enough money to impact their families’ lives,” Jackson said. “They can go through the motions that they really care about the players, but they don’t.
Jackson continued to say fans don’t care about players either because once they retire, they don’t remember them or care about their health.
“They don't really care about me per say, other than I'm playing that game, or that season, or during the time they're a fan," Jackson said. "Once I'm gone they're not following up to see how Bobby is doing in his career after football.
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