87 out of 91 Deceased NFL Players Had Brain Disease

American football is brutal in a way that people who aren’t fans of the sport don’t really appreciate. Considering how stop-start it can appear to neutrals and how unfavourably it’s often compared to rugby, many don’t really grasp just how physical it actually is.

According to a report from the United States’ biggest brain bank, 87 out of 91 deceased NFL players had tested positive for brain disease – that’s 95%. From a report by Frontline:

“Researchers with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University have now identified the degenerative disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in 96 percent of NFL players that they’ve examined and in 79 percent of all football players. The disease is widely believed to stem from repetitive trauma to the head, and can lead to conditions such as memory loss, depression and dementia.

In total, the lab has found CTE in the brain tissue in 131 out of 165 individuals who, before their deaths, played football either professionally, semi-professionally, in college or in high school.

Forty percent of those who tested positive were the offensive and defensive linemen who come into contact with one another on every play of a game, according to numbers shared by the brain bank with FRONTLINE. That finding supports past research suggesting that it’s the repeat, more minor head trauma that occurs regularly in football that may pose the greatest risk to players, as opposed to just the sometimes violent collisions that cause concussions.”

Although the research isn’t perfect, the alarming number is still something that might (and possibly should) be a huge talking point within the sport. A lot has been done over recent decades to make it safer thanks to new rules and equipment, but perhaps there are more steps to be taken still. If these figures are properly acknowledged by the NFL, it should be a top priority for them to find out what needs improving, act on it and strike a balance without taking away the spirit of the sport at the same time.

Will Smith will be starring in a film, Concussion, which focuses on the physician who noticed a correlation between American football and CTE. Let’s hope it doesn’t shirk any of the harsh truths when it’s released in December.