Joe Namath Discusses What Age Kids Should Start Playing Football

Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Namath told Sporting News' Kristian Dyer on Tuesday that children should be afforded time to "let the body and brain to grow more" before they start playing tackle football.  

Namath said: 

"I don't have boys in my family; I have a couple of grandsons. If they want to play the game, more power to them at the right time. I think we need to allow children to develop more physically, let the body and brain to grow more.

"I'm not an advocate of some of the ages that some youngsters get involved in tackling football. I don't want to be negative about all that, to each their own. I do like how some of the retired players limit their children to playing contact football, maybe into the double digits or in their early teenage [years]."

Namath added that while he considers football "a great sport," the bruising nature of the game can't be ignored. He said:

"The body is not designed to bend a certain way or hits to the head, neck or knees. To hit the ground a certain way, whether it is a football helmet or a bicycle helmet — the head isn't supposed to go that way.

"I do hope we get smarter as a whole, not just the NFL but our society in general, in how we handle treating and caring for our brains."

Namath's comments come three months after a study in the medical journal JAMA found chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly referred to as CTE, was found in the brains of 110 of 111 deceased NFL players. 

More recently, attorney Jose Baez disclosed results of a Boston University CTE Center study that showed former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez—who hanged himself in his prison cell in April—tested positive for the degenerative brain disease. 

As far as youth participation is concerned, the NFL has signed on as a supporting sponsor of USA Football's Heads Up program, which certifies coaches "in fundamental aspects of football safety, injury prevention and injury recognition," including concussion recognition and response. 

The program's official website also says it teaches players shoulder-tackling techniques to help "set a new standard in player safety" to help protect middle school and high school participants.