Injuries happen in all sports and NFL football is the most physical of them all.
Take the sport and extrapolate the danger of the game to the top level, where the players are more athletic, faster, stronger and violent than ever before — and player safety is absolutely a concern in the NFL.
Things like broken ankles and torn ACLs happen and they are terrible for the individual players, but more than anything, the NFL has had a concussion problem that has plagued the league ever since its invention.
Players are suffering what roughly equates to a small car crash on every play, and the emergence of scary data and real-life cases of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and the terrible effects of it have threatened the sports future for good reason.
There’s good news for those who love NFL football but have a healthy (and well-earned) fear for player safety, though.
Kevin Seifert of ESPN is reporting that the NFL recorded the fewest number of concussions this season since that data started being tracked in 2015.
There were a total of 182 concussions suffered by NFL players this season whether in games or in practices throughout the preseason and regular season. Per Seifert, that’s a 17% drop from the number in 2023.
“We’re very pleased with the concussion numbers but not at all suggesting that the work is done,” Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said in the ESPN report. “We still have a lot to do to continue to make the game safer and reduce not only concussions, but to reduce avoidable head impact.”
This is great news for those who love football at all levels, because what happens in the NFL does eventually trickle down to college, high school and even the introductory levels.
This content was brought to you by: Yardbarker: NFL
