i mentioned a hot take that i discuss with my drinking buddies.

the current first level fine if an nfl team puts a concussed player back in the game in something like 150k. I think that is absurdly low. I think intentionally/knowingly putting someone back in should be in the neighborhood of millions of dollars. Something that actually hurts these teams.

I think there should probably also be negligent/accidental put back in fine, the "i didnt know, but it was obvious to everyone" like the Savage incident. That fine should be in the 150k neighborhood for a first offense and going up from there. Because the idea that the Texans organization did nothing wrong yesterday should be offensive to everyone.

Because let's be real, $/winning is the deciding factor, and it will make teams/coaches think about waiting an extra play or two for a better concussion test.

Monetary fines will not bring about change. NFL teams just have too much money.

They need to treat it like the NCAA handles ineligible players. If you disregard the protocol and put a player back on the field who shouldn't have been cleared, then you forfeit the game.

There is no way the NFL is ever going to allow changing the result of a game in that manner.

Playing an ineligible player should absolutely be a forfeit.

150k for first "inadvertent" offense, 300k for second, 600k for third, will add up really really really fast, enough to make teams hire more doctors.

I don't think the teams WANT this kind of press either. It's a question of money and always has been.

Those "independent" neurologists are a joke anyway. They seem to rubber stamp anybody who wasn't knocked out.

In high school wrestling the referee has the final say over a coach or doctor as to if an injured wrestler can continue a match.

It's a step up from guys like David Chao (who should be spotlighted regularly). But when there is a hole in the player-safety logistics that can be spotted by an old granny watching from home (Savage's hit), it's time to give up and only discuss the NFL in extreme satire.

This is never going to happen, but something they could do is that if it's determined after the fact that the player should not have been allowed back on, ban them for three games (starting after any medically necessary downtime). Teams won't want to gamble on putting a star player back in for half a game if it might potentially cost them three games. Also, players won't want to be sat out for weeks, so it would incentivize them to make sure that their team is following the rules.

When I was in HS I got concussed during a wrestling match. I finished, but I have no memory of it, and I don't remember anything until the whole meet was over. I was in the shower long after everyone else had left just letting the water run. I don't even think anyone around me knew anything was wrong until then.

You can't penalize the concussed player who, being concussed, has little to no agency

Massive fines, then draft picks

If natural justice to individuals were the only consideration in how the league should be run, we would never allow the Cleveland Browns to draft anyone.

Edit: I don't mean that the concussed players should be speaking up on the spot. I mean that players will generally make it their business to ensure that the team infrastructure for judging concussions are doing their jobs properly. Teammates would involve themselves when players have taken blows to the head, to supervise.

File under "not surprising": Turns out ex Rugby League players also have brain damage.



If ex-League players are impaired, it's going to be a lock that Union players are as well, it's not like that's a less physical game.

I would expect Union to be not quite as bad, given more time spend in mauls/scrums etc and less head on bashing up the middle play after play? Could be wrong, but for sure people will struggle anyway with similar tests.

My dad works in rugby - he stopped playing many decades again as he got knocked out twice and was worried about the impact if it happens too often. Not sure if many thought like that though.

Apparently the England youth team (under 19s maybe) that played in a world cup a few years ago was about 30 pounds heavier per man than Bill Beaumont's grand slam winning team in the 80s. It's a different game now with more big guys hitting each other at pace, so unless things change you'd think that there is more risk now to players than there used to be.

Favre out there campaigning to end tackle football before the age of 12.

good for him. I started playing when I was 11 (6th grade) but played soccer the next year before returning to football for 8th - college. It's funny to realize that randomly trying something new when I was 12 may have given me 3 more CTE-free years later in life.

Tackle football should start in high school... maybe 8th grade. You can learn plenty of skills before that without hitting.

Agreed. I wouldn’t allow my son (if I have one) to play football till high school. Then again I’ve had four concussions and my school didn’t even have football. 1 soccer, 2 basketball, 1 baseball. Lol. They were spread out over 16 years and I don’t have any issues so eh.

WSU quarterback Tyler Hilinski had signs of CTE at suicide, family says

CTE in a college backup quarterback who didn't play that much. (He did play linebacker in high school.)

I'd bet heavily that his linebacker days were most of the problem.

True (probably). Posted mainly to highlight another data point showing that the brain damage from football doesn't require a long career, NFL or otherwise.

favre leading the charge is highly ironic

how so? to me it's a prototype "rub some dirt on it, get back out there and have fun" guy saying no.

Umm what you just described is what makes it highly ironic.

He's arbitrarily drawing a line in the sand for elementary school kids, but once you reach the age of 12 when you're bigger faster stronger go for it! Saying no, while saying yes to where all of his damage came from.

irony is what you don't expect. as is a joke, so it's typically humorous.

favre, being brain damaged, leading a movement for societal change, that negatively impacts the nfl, is all incredible.