After seeing some of the problems that retired NFL players face, this topic began to interest me. Through documentaries, I was able to see that it is very important that we further understand what these hits to the head could possibly be doing to the brains of athletes. Involvement in the sport of football should not cost player's the opportunity to live a long and healthy life. Sometimes the well-being of these men is overlooked based on the fact that they have made the choice to accept payment for their services in athletics. This fact simply is not relevant, as the NFL brings in revenue from these men as well. Safety should be the number one concern. I have experienced the game of football, as I played for 10 years. The issue on concussions in high school football is not as prominent as it is in the NFL. Despite this fact, the issue of head trauma is not only isolated to the NFL. I have done research to find the statistics of the concussions in the NFL, along with the number of safety measures that are being taken into account to protect the heads of these athletes. Combined with the experience I have first hand of the game of football and concussions, the research I have done qualifies me to write on this subject.  The lives of these men are being shortened because of the game of football. The ten years playing the sport is not worth the risk of 40 years of mental illness that can onset because of head trauma.  Some of these ex-athletes are facing hard times now because of the poor regulation that took place in the NFL's past. There are a multitude of tests that show evidence of the brain degeneration that these players are facing, exposing them to depression, odd behavior, and early signs of dementia. 

This article tests whether the hits to the heads of athletes negatively effects them in the future. These tests showed that the former athletes had brain injury in several temporal medial lobe regions, including the amygdala. They also showed injury in the supramarginal gyrus, and atrophy in the hippocampus. This article has the future of the NFL's rules at stake.  Given these findings, it is evident that something has to change. The way athletes are treated immediately after a concussion could mean whether or not they succumb to permanent brain damage. It is shown that reinjuring the head while still recovering from a concussion is extremely dangerous to an athlete. This shows the need for a more thorough concussion protocol. There is minimal bias in this article, as it is research based, and has a control group as well as an experimental group. The credibility is sound as well, as the research is done by a John Hopkins medical research team. These specialists have no agenda then to figure out some possible ways to help the health of those who have suffered head injuries and those who will in the future. 

This article talks about the rule changes that are necessary for the game of football to go on. The NFL paid almost a billion dollars in settlements to players with negative effects from the head injuries received during their tenures in the NFL. The author argues that rule changes, such as banning helmet to helmet hits, should not be looked at as "ruining the game." These rule changes are the only way that football can be continued into the future, without putting the lives of the men involved at risk.  This article has the future NFL at stake. This includes the sport's watch-ability, safety, and popularity. Rule changes, no matter how necessary, will never be approved by all fans. This could result in a loss of fandom for the NFL, or a distaste by some of its players. No entertainment is worth the livelihood of the athletes; things will and must change. Don Banks, a sports analyst for many years, is a very credible author. He has over 15 years experience in the field of sports writing.  Despite this, he is biased. He does not lean his arguments on research, but on his experience in the NFL. This makes for a very opinionated article. 

This article brings to light what has been a troubling realization over the past few years in the NFL. Suicides have been a trend in former football players. Not only have the living been confirmed to have brain damage, but deceased NFL players have been tested as well. There was a test done on 91 previous NFL players, and 87 of them tested positive for CTE. CTE is chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease of the brain. What is at stake here is the possible treatments that could reverse this process in those who are still alive, and prevent the future suicides and mental issues. Expanding medical resources, sideline technology, and regulations in game are the top priority to prevent this trend from continuing. Jason Breslow is the reporter covering this article. He is not biased toward one way, as he relies on the statistics of the research for his article. He does have credibility as a reporter however, as he has covered frontline reports for many years. These frontline articles have an editing process that makes certain that information given is accurate and relevant to the subject matter.

This research question is arguable based on the fact that some people deny the feasibility of rule changes in the NFL. Some may call the allegations of brain trauma to be "overreacting." The sources mostly agree that some type of reform must happen, but this reform has some ambiguity. There are some rule changes that must be surely implemented. This includes the concussion protocol's effectiveness, banning of helmet to helmet contact, and limiting of hits onto defenseless receivers.  The evidence is conclusive; repeated head injuries causes mental illness and degeneration of the brain. This causes a chain reaction that can result in CTE, and eventually dementia. These sources even further cement my stance on the matter. If suicides and brain illnesses are a result of the game of football, it is time for a change. I could revise my research question by being more specific with the changes I believe that should be implemented. Given the prominence of this issue, my research question could also benefit from added statistics from the athlete's injuries in the NFL. 

