Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Concussions and the NFL: Getting Out Before Getting Hit

Is this the beginning of the end? Chris Borland just quit football after a rookie year that was so surprisingly good that it astonished the guys on the Grantland Football Podcast week after week.

This is probably not the beginning of the end of football, but it is probably the start of athletes choosing to get out and perhaps choosing other sports.  We may soon see a migration of folks who could have been football players to other sports where the concussion risk is either less or unknown.

Given his great first year, Borland is definitely choosing health over money as he would get paid big bucks if he kept up last year's performance.  I admire him for making a very difficult choice.  There is no way this was an easy decision.  Indeed, choosing not to get hit is the brave choice. 

Update: the fan reaction is surprisingly supportive.   Given that his team just lost another key linebacker, Pat Willis, the loss of Borland is going to cause significant problems for the 49ers.  Yet the early reactions support the decision.  Very interesting indeed.

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