President Mal

[Derek Smalls]

As a fan of the player on the team, that's the attitude you want. I understand why some people wouldn't like it, but as a Jets fan, I love it.

[SixFeetDeep]

You don't want CTE? Don't play football. Problem solved.

[AlioTheFool]

You don't want CTE? Don't play football. Problem solved.

You don't want to be poor? Work a third job. Problem solved.

It's not as simple as "don't play." These guys have played this sport their entire lives--most of which without the knowledge of what it has been doing to their brains. We're now seeing former players say they won't allow their kids to play and guys retiring early.

The sport needs to change. The problem for the league is how to do it and not change the integrity of the game.

[bojanglesman]

You don't want to be poor? Work a third job. Problem solved.

It's not as simple as "don't play." These guys have played this sport their entire lives--most of which without the knowledge of what it has been doing to their brains. We're now seeing former players say they won't allow their kids to play and guys retiring early.

The sport needs to change. The problem for the league is how to do it and not change the integrity of the game.

You can't focus on football and forget all the other contact sports.  You have to know at this point the risks of playing any contact sport regarding your head.  Can't babysit everything.  I'm not saying you can't make changes, but I don't want to see flag football.

[AlioTheFool]

You can't focus on football and forget all the other contact sports.  You have to know at this point the risks of playing any contact sport regarding your head.  Can't babysit everything.  I'm not saying you can't make changes, but I don't want to see flag football.

I'm not forgetting other contact sports, they're just not nearly as popular and I don't care about any of them.

It's not about babysitting. Parents are increasingly not allowing their kids to play football, and that was before the 99% bombshell last week. Something will have to change before there aren't enough kids growing up playing the sport. It's something baseball has had to deal with, and there wasn't even a health concern involved.

I don't think anyone wants to see flag football. That will kill the sport. But there has to be change in the rules and innovation in equipment.

[SixFeetDeep]

You don't want to be poor? Work a third job. Problem solved.

It's not as simple as "don't play." These guys have played this sport their entire lives--most of which without the knowledge of what it has been doing to their brains. We're now seeing former players say they won't allow their kids to play and guys retiring early.

The sport needs to change. The problem for the league is how to do it and not change the integrity of the game.

Nobody is holding them hostage making them play football. If playing in the NFL didn't pay you millions of dollars I would bet a lot of these guys wouldn't be playing.

[AlioTheFool]

Nobody is holding them hostage making them play football. If playing in the NFL didn't pay you millions of dollars I would bet a lot of these guys wouldn't be playing.

Absolutely, but you can also make millions of dollars playing baseball or basketball, and those sports don't have the same CTE risk. And athletes in those sports make a lot more money than football players.

It's going to come down to parents. It's anecdotal, admittedly, but I've already seen parents stop their kids from playing football because of the brain injury risk. Like I said, it's anecdotal, but I have to believe that as more studies are released, the concern will grow.

[Laxin]

I'm not forgetting other contact sports, they're just not nearly as popular and I don't care about any of them.

It's not about babysitting. Parents are increasingly not allowing their kids to play football, and that was before the 99% bombshell last week. Something will have to change before there aren't enough kids growing up playing the sport. It's something baseball has had to deal with, and there wasn't even a health concern involved.

I don't think anyone wants to see flag football. That will kill the sport. But there has to be change in the rules and innovation in equipment.

I don't think it will stop the majority of people with real talent from playing the sport. People still become police officers, and put their lives on the line every day for a whole lot less fame and fortune. There are plenty of careers and jobs that have inherent risks, and none of them have the upside that football does. For a lot of these people, football may be the only way to "make it" in the world.

Maybe we see some of these talents move to other sports, but football will still have its large pool of talent flocking to the sport.

Also, you cannot completely (or even mostly) remove the CTE aspect from the game. Its a collision sport. Concussions will happen and collisions will occur frequently. No helmet or form of tackling or rule change will alter that.

[bojanglesman]

I'm not forgetting other contact sports, they're just not nearly as popular and I don't care about any of them.

It's not about babysitting. Parents are increasingly not allowing their kids to play football, and that was before the 99% bombshell last week. Something will have to change before there aren't enough kids growing up playing the sport. It's something baseball has had to deal with, and there wasn't even a health concern involved.

I don't think anyone wants to see flag football. That will kill the sport. But there has to be change in the rules and innovation in equipment.

Totally fine and understandable for parents to choose that.  I can't imagine there will be a shortage of players willing to play football anytime soon though.  Nothing wrong with innovation regarding safety.  What I mean by babysitting is taking contact out of the sport where the participants are willing and know the risks now.       

[AlioTheFool]

Totally fine and understandable for parents to choose that.  I can't imagine there will be a shortage of players willing to play football anytime soon though.  Nothing wrong with innovation regarding safety.  What I mean by babysitting is taking contact out of the sport where the participants are willing and know the risks now.       

Right. I don't think they'd ever attempt to remove contact from the sport, but something has to change. It's certainly an area that equipment manufacturers can capitalize on, if they can find solutions that reduce risk.

[bojanglesman]

Right. I don't think they'd ever attempt to remove contact from the sport, but something has to change. It's certainly an area that equipment manufacturers can capitalize on, if they can find solutions that reduce risk.

The problem is that they are suspecting that low grade, repeated head trauma is a driver for this as much, if not more than severe, isolated traumatic incidents.  I'm not talking about a guy getting whacked in the head, shaking it off and walking back to the huddle normally.  I'm talking about linebacker bullrushing lineman 40 times a game and getting whipped around and punched in the head with a stiffarm.  Those smaller, constant traumatic events that the average person doesn't have.  That's tough to innovate away or eliminate without making it 7 on 7 flag football.

[bojanglesman]

Eric Allen

Jamal Adams says he's all about making the game safer. Says his quote was all about passion for the game. Calls his love for 🏈indescribable

He'll have to learn just to give vanilla quotes from now on.

[d sw0rdz]

i can't see poor inner city families taking football away from their kids just because of the studies on CTE, when football is one of the only ways out for many of them. people will bring up other sports like the nba, but the nba has a lot fewer jobs to offer than the NFL does, with 50+ positions on 32 teams.

the talent pool for skill positions and for DL/LBs will essentially remain the same. it's other positions that are going to take hits in regards to the talent pool.

[SixFeetDeep]

Eric Lindros was one of my favorite hockey players as a kid. I knew about the "effects of CTE" as a teenager, long before any of these studies or doctors reports. Didn't stop me from playing contact sports my entire life, because those were the sports I grew up playing and loved with a passion. No reason I couldn't have played soccer or basketball or something less violent instead. Football is a violent sport, everyone knows what they're subjecting themselves to when they step on that field. Head injuries aside, you could suffer an injury like Eric Legrand, Teddy Bridgewater, or Marcus Lattimore and never, ever be the same physically. And why is this just limited to football? Are boxers, hockey, rugby, and lacrosse players not subjected to the same inherent risks? One of the most rapidly growing sports right now is MMA, where males and females literally beat the life out of each other in front of cheering fans. Anyone doing any studies to see if getting your skull beaten in has a negative effect on your brain? These guys know exactly what they're signing up for, a violent contact sport where you try to hit the guy across from you like a battering ram on every play. Why are we acting shocked that this has a detrimental effect on physical and mental health? I'm all for making the game safer within reason, but there's a reason the NFL is a zillion dollar industry instead of flag football.

[Johnny English]

Absolutely, but you can also make millions of dollars playing baseball or basketball, and those sports don't have the same CTE risk. And athletes in those sports make a lot more money than football players.

It's going to come down to parents. It's anecdotal, admittedly, but I've already seen parents stop their kids from playing football because of the brain injury risk. Like I said, it's anecdotal, but I have to believe that as more studies are released, the concern will grow.

I think an awful lot of kids would rather play basketball, but if you're 6'2" or under your chances of ever succeeding professionally at it are almost infinitesimally low, whereas normal sized kids can always play football. Baseball is obviously an option, but I think that the skills involved are very different - other than a basic level of athleticism and competitiveness there's really not much the two have in common.