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Early Years Of NFL
NFL helmets have always been prone to get a concussion. The NFL's first helmet was made of moleskin. If we are having concussion problems now imagine what the concussion rate was when helmets were barely a thing. -
First Step in Protecting Players
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue creates the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee. Dr. Elliot Pellman is named chairman despite not having experience with brain injuries. -
First Doctor to find CTE in Football Player
Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist and co-founder of the Brain Injury Research Institute, identifies chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brain of former Pittsburgh Steelers' center Mike Webster, 50, who committed suicide. Omalu is the first to identify CTE in American football players. -
New Suspensions Rule
NFL Commissioner Goodell issues a memo to all 32 teams that warns of possible suspensions for offenders that violate the "playing rules that unreasonably put the safety of another player in jeopardy have no place in the game, and that is especially true in the case of hits to the head and neck." -
Dave Duerson Suicide
Former Chicago Bears defensive back Dave Duerson, 50, commits suicide with a gunshot wound to the chest rather than his head so his brain can be researched for CTE. Boston University researchers find CTE in Duerson's brain, the same disease found in other deceased NFL players -
Supporting Research for Health in Players
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health announces the NFL has committed to donating $30 million to support research on medical conditions prominent in athletes. -
Players Making a Stand
Former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino and 14 other former NFL players sue the NFL over concussions. Their lawsuit claims the NFL knew for years of the link between concussions and long-term health problems. -
Jeff Miller Makes a Connection Between football and Connection
For the first time, a senior NFL official publicly acknowledges a connection between football and CTE. At a round-table discussion with the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce, when asked if "there is a link between football and degenerative brain disorders like CTE," Jeff Miller, the NFL's senior vice president of health and safety policy, answers "the answer to that question is certainly, yes." -
Concussion Protocal
The NFL has a new policy to enforce concussion protocol. Teams violating the policy are subject to discipline, through fines or losing draft pics -
Safety of the game
Commissioner Goodell announces they will try to increase the safety of the game. They are creating safer helmets with extra pads inside and possibly outside. -
The Stats
Within the last 5 years there had been over 400 head injuries. 45% of the concussions occurred on helmet-to-body hits, with 35% coming on helmet-to-helmet hits. -
Discovery
A study published in the medical journal JAMA identifies CTE in 99% of dead NFL players' brains that were donated to scientific research -- 110 out of 111 former NFL players. -
Aaron Hernandez
Dr.Baez tells reporters that results from tests performed on the brain of Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end who was convicted in 2015 of murder, showed a "severe case" of CTE. -
Fred McNeill
Dr. Bennet was the first doctor to find CTE in a living human. Fred was still playing then retired within a month of finding out he had CTE. In 2015 Fred died less than a year later of a severe case of CTE -
Prediction
We predict that the NFL will get more strict with the rules on hits to the helmets and unnecessary hits. The NFL is already in the process with making rules and punishments harsher for concussion and not needed late hits or hits to the helmet. We also feel that the technology and equipment will improve in the upcoming years. Helmets have already been mad to try and avoid head injuries but we feel that in the future the helmets will be more advance.
