Concussions: Is Playing in the NFL Worth It?

What is an NFL career worth?

Is five years with a team worth being confined to a wheelchair or walking with a cane, being in constant pain and dealing with depression?

And what about having to live with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia?

That is the question that many players are probably asking themselves after last week’s house committee hearing regarding whether NFL players are more susceptible to brain diseases after sustaining repeated head trauma in the league.

Notable events that took place in this meeting included doctors from Boston University stating that dead players’ brains repeatedly show permanent brain damage and an NFL-commissioned University of Michigan report which detailed that former players have abnormally high dementia rates.

The NFL (and football in general) definitely has a concussion problem and an injury problem in general. 

It just takes a look at an NFL injury report to realize that.

And in reality, it doesn’t seem like the league can do much to stop those problems without seriously jeopardizing the game from an entertainment standpoint.

There is a reason why the NFL is the most popular sport in America, as there is no other sport that involves more physicality, more speed, and more strategy than football.

There are few things that are more entertaining than seeing two players collide with each other at full speed, but from a kinesiology standpoint it can’t be good for them.

And yet an NFL without it would soon go out of business.

Therein lies the problem.

Could the NFL survive without kick and punt returns?

Probably not, judging from how angry fans get over the constant roughing the passer penalties that in many cases should not be called.

And fans don’t want to see players lining up against each other in gear that makes them resemble a member of a bomb squad either, as that would slow the game down considerably.

Don’t get me wrong, the NFL does a good job of protecting its players, as its rules, top-notch equipment, and the best doctors that money can buy indicate.

But there is only so much that they are able to do now, and will be able to do in the future to ensure that players can have a good quality of life when they no longer step on the gridiron as a player, which is in their late 30’s if they are lucky enough to be an elite performer.  

You can never underestimate technology, but will there ever be a helmet that makes a player 100-percent concussion proof?

Probably not.

And if former players are suffering today, then how many will be suffering 10 years from now?

Sure, a player’s equipment is better today than it was in the past, but at the same time players are bigger and faster today than they were in the past. 

Fans will always support the NFL so long as players’ dying in the middle of the field like gladiators doesn’t become a common occurrence.

We don’t have to worry about that ever happening.

Eventually players should hit a point where they can’t get much bigger and faster and the game stays about as dangerous to a player’s present and future health as it is today.

But the NFL could have a serious problem 30 years from now. Hundreds of players in their 50’s like Adrian Peterson and Frank Gore could be confined to wheel chairs and suffering from dementia. Active players could still be sustaining multiple concussions during that time.

If so, playing the game at the highest level may no longer be worth its consequences.