NFL's history with CTE back in spotlight after NYC shooting
The NFL has been accused of misleading its players about CTE. Thousands of former players have claimed the NFL tried to cover up how football inflicted long-term brain injuries on many players. Here is a look at that history.
Jacked up
While now the league is cognizant of head trauma and has curbed its rules toward the protection of its players, especially the quarterbacks, there was a time when that wasn't the case. The NFL marketed and sold video highlighting the hardest hits.
Once such video, "The Best of Thunder and Destruction: NFL's Hardest Hits," was released in 1992. Its description, in part, says "An all-new look at pro football's greatest hits - and the game's hardest hitters. Find out what makes the NFL's most punishing personalities tick - and what makes them ATTACK! The most memorable tackles in League history are recalled in a rough and tumble review of the League's 'hit parade,'" and it names two players, Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Atwater of the Denver Broncos and former New Orleans Saints linebacker Pat Swilling, to emphasize its point.
More recently, former ESPN analyst Tom Jackson hosted the segment called "Jacked Up!," on Monday Night Countdown, highlighting the biggest hits from the weekend's games, with the panelists gleefully repeating the name of the segment when a player delivered a punishing hit. That segment ended after the 2006 season.
Legal battle
The NFL has repeatedly said it cares about the health and welfare of its players. But the league met its reckoning in August 2011, when several players, including lead plaintiff Ray Easterling, sued the league in a class-action lawsuit over how it handled head injuries and accused the NFL of trying to hide links between playing football and brain injuries. It added that the NFL taught players to hit with their heads when engaging an opponent.
Easterling died by suicide in April 2012 at age 62, and the NFL and the players agreed the next year to a $765 million settlement, agreeing to pay for victims' medical exams and continue research to study the issue of head trauma. Part of the settlement allowed the league to admit no wrongdoing.
But the Washington Post, in a 2024 report, said the NFL hasn't been holding up its end of the deal, using medical loopholes to try to get out of covering costs.
At the time of the report, the Post said about 900 settlement claims had been approved by the NFL, while another 1,100 were rejected, including "300 involving players who were diagnosed by the settlement's own doctors." The Post claimed the collective value of these dementia claim denials could be more than $700 million.
Race norming
While players were struggling to get the funds they needed to treat their respective brain injuries, another issue came to the forefront, as the term race-norming became part of the conversation.
Race norming is the practice of the adjustment of medical test results or medical risk assessments based on a patient's race. In this case, two players, Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, accused the league of discrimination based on race, where it made it harder for Black players to qualify to receive part of the settlement award based on race-based adjustments to neurocognitive test scores.
The baseline for the tests, called binary race norms, has been around for four decades and used different cognitive test baselines when tests were administered on Black and White players, but came with the assumption that Black players started with a lower cognitive function than the white players. Some scholars have said the practice is tantamount to slavery.
That simple discrepancy eliminated thousands of Black players from receiving any monetary compensation to treat their condition.
The NFL acknowledged race-norming, saying in a statement, "We look forward to the court's prompt approval of the agreement, which provides for a race-neutral evaluation process that will ensure diagnostic accuracy and fairness in the concussion settlement."
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The Herald Scotland
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Sterling Sharpe joins brother in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
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The Watts, J.J. and T.J., could have a shot if the younger brother keeps up his pace. And a few months ago, Eli Manning, Peyton's younger brother, was a Hall finalist in his first year of eligibility. Yet 25,000 men have played in the NFL since it was established in 1920 and it hasn't happened for a pair of brothers - until now. What are the odds? In the case of the Sharpe brothers, three years apart, their distinction is underscored by their remarkable journey from rural Georgia, where they were raised by late grandparents, Barney and Mary Porter, challenged by poverty. When I listened to the brothers on Shannon's "Club Shay Shay" podcast this week, reflecting on the conditions they endured growing up in a 1,000-square-foot cinder block home with cement floors and without running water, it added extra layers of appreciation for their achievements. Shannon, whose loquacious persona propelled him to become a media megastar after football, is hardly dropping hyperbole when he calls Sterling's Hall of Fame election the "proudest moment of my life." After all, Sterling - the hero and role model whose every word he hung on - once had the task of taking a young Shannon to the outhouse in the middle of the night. Shannon, who gave his big brother his first Super Bowl ring, certainly did his best in keeping his brother's candidacy alive. I've been a Hall selector for nearly 30 years and in recent years when I'd reach out to Shannon to get his take on one NFL topic after another, he would routinely end the exchange with a reminder about his brother's worthiness for a Hall call. The suggestions never came off as pushy, out of bounds or over the top and were nowhere in the ballpark of some of the campaigning for candidates that come our way as selectors. Instead, Shannon's efforts came off as authentic ... even as he preached to the choir about Sterling's case. That it wasn't automatic for Sterling - the first receiver to post 100 receptions in back-to-back seasons, an All-Decade choice for the 1990s with a "Triple Crown" milestone in 1992 - was a function of his injury-shortened career more than anything. It certainly helped Sterling's chances that Terrell Davis, Tony Boselli and Kenny Easley earned Hall status with their own injury-shortened careers, yet his case stood on its own merits. Sterling is part of a relatively small class that includes cornerback Eric Allen, defensive end Jared Allen (no relation to Eric) and tight end Antonio Gates, who has his own distinctive "first" with his honor. Gates is the only player chosen for the Hall of Fame who didn't play football in college, when he starred as a basketball player. Shannon, though, has one regret about this long-awaited moment for his brother that underscores the twists and turns of life. On Wednesday, The Athletic reported that ESPN won't be bringing Shannon back to the network for his role on the popular "First Take" show - dumping the former tight end who was suspended since April, when a former romantic partner filed a civil suit that alleged sexual assault and battery, seeking $50 million in damages. The suit was recently settled out of court. Talk about tough timing. Shannon's big brother finally gets his Hall call ... while news emerges about his personal setback. "They did what they feel they needed to do and I'm at peace with that," Shannon said on Wednesday night on "The Nightcap" podcast he hosts with former NFL receiver Chad Johnson. "But I just wish thing could have waited until Monday because I hate the fact that I'm overshadowing my brother." Then again, it's a different type of fate. The timing is another element of the moment. Shannon needs not sweat it. Not now. Generations from now, the legacy of the Sharpe brothers reflected with their busts in Canton will reflect their impact as two of the greatest players who ever played pro football. And given the journey that includes Sterling's extended wait, a lot of peace comes with that. Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@ or follow on social media: On X: @JarrettBell On Bluesky:
Reuters
8 hours ago
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Antonio Gates' path to Canton is one of a kind
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Reuters
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Falcons sign CB Grayland Arnold
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