Football Concussions Up For Debate Again As Chris Borland Retires at 24

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With the end of one football season, and the fast approach of the next, people’s attention has been turned towards the recent announcement made by the San Francisco 49ers linebacker, Chris Borland. It came as a shock to everyone that Borland would announce that he was going to retire from playing in the NFL. This hit hard, since he had such a promising career ahead of him.

He would have easily replaced Patrick Willis for the position as linebacker, especially with the stats he putting up. Borland stated that he was retiring due to CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. He said the risk of dying at a young age due to CTE is much higher, just as Mike Webster and Dave Duerson and Ray Easterling died at an early age.

Borland will be walking away from a $3 million contract, and may have to return part of his signing bonus, but he says its worth it if he can live long and prosper. There are others that think the controversy surrounding CTE is unfounded.

Dr. Joseph Maroon, a Pittsburgh Steelers neurosurgeon and a league consultant, voiced his opinion on the matter, and you can read all bout it here. He goes on to state that with the change in rules in the NFL, playing football is actually safer than riding a bike.

Many other doctors are trying hard to show their facts and research on CTE, but it mainly falls on powerless-to-change-the-facts ears. Either way, I hope the league does start to take better care of the players, as we do want them to be able to play the game they love and actually live a nice life afterwards.

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