NFL Concussions: Something has to be done.

Hunter Hillenmeyer was a linebacker for the Chicago Bears from 2003-2010 and a key component of the Bears Super Bowl run in 2006. On September 14, 2010, Hillenmeyer was placed on the injured reserve due to conditions from a concussion he had sustained in his previous game. This would prove to be his last game in the NFL.

A player being carted off the field
after receiving a concussion.

Along with Hillenmeyer, dozens of NFL players have sustained career ending concussions from all their hard hitting years in the NFL. There are new regulations being set by the NFL to help players be much safer on the field regarding concussions, but Hillenmeyer doesn't think so. "“It makes me sick to see (the NFL) claim it is driving concussion research and putting player safety first,” Hillenmeyer said. “The whole system is designed to do one thing: make owners money". Hillenmeyer is currently in a lawsuit with the Chicago Bears and the NFL to get $900,000 he believes is owed to him after being released. Doctors recommended that he retire after suffering his concussion. He has teamed u[ with the NFLPA (NFL Players Association) to attempt to get half of his contract money for 2011 ($900,000).


But the concern of concussions go past just money owed. In an article written by Stephanie Smith in 2009, there were conclusive evidence to show brain damage sustained by players in the NFL. "But today, using tissue from retired NFL athletes culled posthumously, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE), at the Boston University School of Medicine, is shedding light on what concussions look like in the brain. The findings are stunning. Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage." This evidence really amazed me and led me to look around the internet to see what the NFL is doing to protect the players.


After an hour or so of searching, I found that the NFL is trying to start conducting studies to delve deeper into problem of concussions. Personally, I think that there must be some way to protect the players more, whether it helmets with better protection, or suspensions given out to players who make plays that put other players at risk for concussions. Either way, the risk for concussions increases as more and more players become stronger and stronger, so the NFL better figure out a way to solve this issue, and fast.