Most people in America spend their Sundays watching their favorite team battling it out on the gridiron. While Football is entertaining, the potential injuries that come with the sport are brutal. The NFL are not taking the Concussion Protocol and injuries as serious as they should. For entertainment purposes, the NFL will try and get players back in the game as soon as possible. Players get injured every week with minor injuries like turf toe and major injuries, like a Concussion or an ACL tear, that end a player’s season.

Concussions are a main focal point in the NFL and have been for a while. Retired players and active players alike will share stories of having memory issues, lack of ability to function, and lack of coordination that can screw players over down the road. The concern is still very real and many NFL players  such as Legendary 49er linebacker Patrick Willis, linebacker Chris Borland and more recently, Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah, have retired due to the possibility of injury.

A big problem is that players will also lie about being injured to return to the game faster. Players with big names in the NFL like Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots are okay financially when injured. They are widely known players around the NFL with huge salaries of up to 20 million dollars a year. On the other hand,  there are players who get on the field for only a handful of plays a game. They get injured and they have to do everything in their power to get back on the field to make money and put food on the table for their families. So they lie and get back on the field with a serious injury. The NFL needs to be more persistent about getting on top of players and their injuries before they get too serious.

Retired Players who have not had the privilege of the Concussion Protocol suffered the most. Players like legendary linebacker for the San Diego Chargers and New England Patriots Junior Seau was one of the victims to the unfortunate problem called CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy). Back in 2012, Junior died of a gunshot wound, which would later be seen as suicide; the cause was due to numerous concussions in the past. No brain damage was reported, however. The NFL has been under fire for a while now as there have been over 2,000 players who have filed lawsuits against the organization for concussion related problems.

The way the NFL hides information about concussions and CTE from the victims’ families is downright outrageous. The way this NFL operates especially with Roger Goodell is sub-par at best. The NFL needs to clean up their act. Concussions are not the only problems the NFL faces. HGH scandals, rule changing, unruly suspensions, and more are what is currently on the NFL’s plate. While concussions will always be a part of the NFL, the handling of the injury and responsibility of the player are key in order for the game of football to return to its former glory.