Chris Borland Comments on Concussions, Retirement and More

More than a year after retiring from the NFL at the age of 24, former San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland commented Tuesday on his decision to step away from the sport and his thoughts on concussions.

In an interview with Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the former third-round pick out of Wisconsin acknowledged that he misses the camaraderie that comes along with football, but he remains at peace with his decision to retire. 

"Intellectually, I know it's a sound decision," he said. "So I don't regret that. More information has come out since I walked away that kind of reaffirmed my decision."

Borland also described the process that led up to his retirement, which included poring over data related to the health risks that come along with playing football:

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I wanted to avoid making any decision based off anecdotes. As much empirical data as I could gather was really important to me. I was the biggest critic. I spent all of the fall saying, 'Okay, the Boston University brain bank—well, that's a biased sample. Okay, the NFL actuary report that there are guys who have brain damage—well, that's a third of guys. Maybe I'll be in the 70 percent.' ... And then it got to a point where it was just hard for me to deny ... especially with having goals of playing for a decade.

[...]

If I were in it for the money or to play a few years, maybe you can say, 'Well, I'll be the outlier. I'll be fine.' But inside linebacker with concussion history with the goals of playing for a decade—I felt that I'd fit into the category of guys who had impairment.

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Observers often focus on the big hits that immediately cause concussions on the football field, but Borland pointed out that the accumulation of smaller hits over the course of time can potentially have a similar impact:

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One thing that's important to understand is that it's believed that the pathology of CTE doesn't have to do with concussion so much as it has to do with the accumulation of sub-concussive hits. So every hit matters. If you're subject to 800 or 1,200 of these every year, it accumulates. It's like erosion.

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Borland revealed his intention to remain involved with researching head injuries in football, raising awareness and potentially lowering risk, but he admitted that he has no solutions regarding how to prevent concussions due to the "inherent danger" of the sport.

The Kettering, Ohio, native played just one NFL season, collecting 108 tackles and two interceptions.

He seemed poised to become a star at the linebacker position, and while his entry-level contract wasn't huge as a third-round selection, he was in line to cash in significantly so long as he continued to develop on a yearly basis.

Borland instead decided to step away in an effort to preserve his health, which is a decision that many players have made over the past year despite having several good years left in them on the football field.

While Borland's retirement was perhaps the most shocking due to his strong play and young age, his viewpoint may soon inch closer to the norm as more information continues to come to light about the dangers of playing football.

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