Concussions are mild to severe brain injuries caused by a blunt hit to the head. Symptoms of a concussion could be headaches, confusion, nausea, dizziness, sleepiness, and lack of coordination; all of which would interfere with a football player's ability to complete his actions on the field. The National Football League (NFL) should take concussions more seriously due to their possible life-threatening repercussions. It is known that after receiving a concussion, sports team players should refrain from playing in games, or even practicing, until the player is fully recovered. Putting excess stress on the brain after getting a concussion could cause even more damage to the brain and further threaten the life of someone with a concussion. NFL teams tend to push aside concussions that their star players receive in order to keep their best players in line for their next game. While coaches may think this is a good idea, if you look at what is in the best interest of the player, keeping them from any further trauma until they recover sounds like a much better option in the long run. One game means nothing when it comes to looking at a player, teammate, and family member's life.

Concussions are a part of football that has been around since the creation of the game.  The game has evolved and so has the apparel worn by the players. "Football was a very different game in the early 1900s than it is today, with frequent pile-ups and scrambles for the ball punctuated by players kicking opponents in the gut or the head. At least 45 players died between 1900 and 1905."(American Scientist) Since then the unnecessary violence has been eliminated, leaving injuries that are solely from the game of football. Unfortunately, one of the main injuries is a concussion, which is a very serious risk to the players of the game of football. They are a factor in any sport that involves contact or has objects that move at fast speeds, certain sports are more high risk, such as hockey or football. In 2015 there were "271 reported concussions during pre-season and regular season practices and games combined."(CNN) That is a very large number that does not even take into account all of the concussions that occur but go unreported. Concussions that go unreported is more of a problem in the lower levels of the game of football, such as little league to high school league. A player may simply be uninformed on the signs of a concussion, causing greater risk to the player risking a second concussion. This can easily be avoided by informing players of warning signs that they have a concussion, allowing them to realize when their health and body are in danger. Part of the reason that it is so hard to prevent concussions is because of the way that the game is played, fast and aggressive. In order to be the best football player that you can be in most cases results in running faster and hitting harder, this consequently leads to injuries, specifically concussions.  The behavior of the players also can correlate with the response of the fans watching the games, one of the most positive reactions come from a big hit laid on an opponent. While it is very unlikely for the fans and supporters of football organizations such as the NFL to change the way they view the game, the next most likely solution to attempt to find is a better functioning helmet.  The helmet currently has a design that consists of a hard outer-shell with a soft cushioned inside.  Leading hits with the helmet is the leading reason of concussions. Hines Ward, a wide receiver for the Pittsburg Steelers, recently suffered a concussion where he got hit with helmet to helmet contact. Ward had an interesting take on the helmet and how it affects the behavior of the players. "If you want to prevent concussions, take the helmet off: Play old-school football with the leather helmets, no facemask. When you put a helmet on you're going to use it as a weapon."(American Scientist) He suggests that players currently use the helmet to their advantage as they make a big hit on another player. 

The effects of concussions are very dangerous and can get very serious, involving dizziness, confusion, and lack of coordination. The most dangerous symptom of a concussion has only recently been discovered, yet it still has not made the public awareness that it should receive. This dangerous symptom is dubbed CTE, (Chronic traumatic encephalathopy) a degenerative disease that affects the brain. "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head. CTE."(American Scientist) The discovery of this disease has helped bring concussions into the main stream so people can know the true dangers or repeated head trauma. This disease has been found in many former NFL players who had evidence of repeated blows to the head. The symptoms that come along with CTE are similar to those of concussions. "CTE has been linked with memory loss, impaired judgment, depression, aggression and dementia. It can only be diagnosed after death, a complication in efforts to broaden study of the disease."(Carlson) The scariest part of CTE is the correlation of it with the amount of suicides of former NFL players. The link between suicides of former NFL players and concussions should not be overlooked as it is becoming more and more common. It is time for the NFL to start looking into this and to make serious contributions to the research and development of a cure to this disease.  "With this work, Omalu et al.14 introduced the finding that suicidality was a prominent clinical feature of CTE. This conclusion appears to be based on the fact that suicide was the cause of death of two of the three cases examined by Omalu et al.14; however, the extent to which it was influenced by the extraordinary media coverage of all of the case studies during that period is unknown. In recent years, it has been asserted that suicide is a common clinical feature of CTE."(Carlson) Recently, a film was produced named Concussion, stars Will Smith. This film does a great job in representing the discovery of this disease CTE and the struggle for the people affected to make noise about it.  Since the disease can only be discovered after the person has passed away, it makes it very difficult to tell when a person has CTE. In the film the main character, Will Smith, discovers this disease and the struggle to be heard by the NFL and the media is represented great.  The NFL does not listen to Will Smith even though the information he has can save many lives. "The NFL owns a day of the week. The same day the church used to own. Now it's theirs."(Concussion) This represents the amount of power that the organization has and the struggle to compete with the influence of such organizations like the NFL. In the film Will Smith is demoralized and humiliated as he discovers the disease and fights for recognition.  However, the NFL continued to sweep the findings under the rug. This film made concussions a public interest and sparked many people's interest into what really is a concussion and the affects that it holds on a player and his family.  The discovery and relevance of this disease has been one of the loudest voices to help spread awareness of the dangers of concussions.

To play in the NFL is the dream job of many athletes, getting paid to play the game they love. Job is a key word that shows they are playing this sport for a living, to provide for themselves, and their families. To put the player at so much risk there must be some sort of compensation if leaving the league early due to head trauma is what the player has to do. If they leave the NFL then they leave their job, what are they supposed to do after that?
