How Wes Welker Dealt With 3 Concussions In Less Than A Year

Friends,

Today’s article is a 2014 profile on Wes Welker by Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPN, titled “Wes Welker Will Not Be Denied”.

Unbreakable Confidence

Welker, standing at only 5’9”, made a career out of being the toughest guy on the field. Will that same toughness have consequences that alter the rest of his life? After suffering three concussions in the span of ten months and refusing to retire, Welker gives an inside look at how his fearless mentality has affected his career, marriage, and mental well-being.

Pro Tip - Don’t mess with Brady

After being traded to the New England Patriots, from Miami, Welker tells Tom Brady there is a holdup on the deal during their first meeting..

Inside the NFL’s Concussion Issue

The NFL’s issue with concussions has been well documented - there have been lawsuits, settlements, payments made, and even movies produced. For every athlete like Chris Borland, the 49ers player who retired after a stellar rookie season citing research he did on the “long-term health concerns of playing football”, there seems to be many more willing to risk it all for either the financial reward the NFL offers, or in Wes Welker’s case, the inability to stop competing.

Here were a few eye-opening statistics I found when researching the topic (Source):

• The median age of death for an NFL player is 57, compared to 76 for an average male born in the US.

• NFL players are 8x more likely to develop Alzheimer’s & Dementia

• The Department of Veterans Affairs brain bank revealed that 76 out of 79 deceased NFL players had CTE, a degenerative brain disease.

• 1/3 of all NFL players are expected to develop long-term cognitive problems

With football here to stay, people need to continue to educate themselves on the risk/reward of playing football and make the decision that is best for themselves and their family.

From a more positive perspective, the NFL has made significant changes in the last few years due to public pressure including adjusting the kickoff to limit returns (the most dangerous play in football), eliminating helmet-to-helmet and defenseless hits, and putting more stringent requirements around the reporting of concussions. Most of these changes occurred after the all time high 281 reported concussions in 2017 - As you can see below, they seem to be making a somewhat significant impact, dropping the total concussion number to 224 last year (Source).

And for those that demand the NFL cancel Thursday night games for the sake of player safety, the evidence doesn’t seem to support that argument. Players are more likely to be injured coming off a bye week than playing on 4-5 days rest.

My guess? High impact plays like kickoffs and punts will eventually be removed and future helmets will be outfitted with impact technology to track concussions and the overall health of a player’s brain. Imagine a world where team physicians and trainers receive real time updates on the force of a hit, the percentage likelihood of a concussion occurring, or even the brains reaction to that force. As technology continues to advance, one would assume the NFL will be at the forefront of that change.

Extra Credit

Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, received $10.4 million in federal money from the CARES Act for COVID-19 related safety upgrades.

This seems like a waste of money considering, if we have football in the fall, it’s increasingly more likely that it’s played in empty stadiums. Not to mention taxpayers have already paid close to $200 million to build the stadium back in 1996.

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