Blog 6: NFL Concussion Data

Concussions will always be prominent in the NFL. It is simply the nature of the sport. Aggressive, fast movements, tackling, and constantly hitting the ground; your body will inevitably bounce around - your brain included. The NFL has received outcry from medical professionals, players, staff, and fans to protect players as more cases of CTE come up in some of the NFL's greats - Eric Dickerson and Brett Favre, to name a few. In recent years, changes have been made, and improvements have come out of them, but the search for consistent, efficient, and most importantly, guaranteed methods remains unfinished.

The start of the NFL's war on concussions began in 2013, when league medical personnel released new concussion protocol and prevention procedures. This included pre-season education, pre-emptive neuro-examination, and more rigorous in-game and post-game action required to properly assess potential concussions. Ironically, it was followed shortly by the highest recorded number of concussions in a season within the past 10 years (237 total in 2015). This highlighted the importance of coupling proper procedure with a proactive mindset. The NFL would begin to crack down on missed concussions by medical personnel in the coming years.

Concussions steadily dropped until hitting the biggest drop in 2018, with 80 fewer concussion cases than the season prior. This signaled not only the benefits of the new concussion protocol, but also proper employment and supervision of it. Medical and team personnel across the league were more cognizant of the procedure and what they needed to do to keep players safe.

Practice concussions notably rose in 2020 - the one year where there weren't 20 full games played. This could be due to possibly more practices being conducted with the lack of games, but there was also an ongoing pandemic, so the extra close contact may not have been welcomed. Another reason could be the lack of guardian caps compared to their prominence in today's game. While they were allowed for practice use since 2019, they were not mandated until after the conclusion of the 2022 NFL season. Ironically, we see a slight rise in practice concussions after this, but this data remains inconclusive until more seasons with the full integration of guardian caps come and go.

Concussions have been on a steady rise again in the most recent recorded years, which is not a welcome sight for anyone. Action has still been taken to combat this, both directly and indirectly. The concussion protocol is still fully employed, and players continue to be educated on the subject. More indirectly, rule changes surrounding the nature of hits have been an annual off-season topic. NFL kickoffs were recently changed in 2021 to allow fair catches on kickoffs, with an emphasis on preventing high-speed collisions. The model of the kickoff itself was made "dynamic" last season, placing limits on where the ball must be, where players must be, and when they can move. The years to come will tell of the effectiveness of these measures.

All in all, concussions are not going away in football. However, we have and will continue to find ways to prevent repeated and severe concussions. The beloved aggression of the sport unfortunately comes with its risks, and head injury is one of them. Hopefully, a future exists where we can watch and play the game we love without fear of such traumatic injuries.

See the graphics below for a visualization of recent concussion history in the NFL.