Due to rising concerns of player wellbeing over the last few years, major football leagues are beginning to implement safety protocols to protect their players from major injuries.
Football is a pastime for many Americans, with each NFL game averaging around 14.5 million viewers, according to Fox Sports. Fans love watching their team win games and their favorite players scoring all the touchdowns.
What every fan hates watching is a player getting hurt, which, sadly, is becoming much more common.
There has been an injury in almost every single game of the NFL and NCAA this year, according to the NFL.
Some injuries can be walked off or fixed by going to the sideline for a couple of plays. However, not every player is so lucky. This year there has been a large number of injuries where the player couldn’t physically walk afterwards.
NFL quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is a well-known example of a significant injury this year. During week four, Tagovailoa received a severe hit in the head against the Buffalo Bills, leaving him unable to properly walk off the field after.
Any person watching the game could have deduced that he was incapable of playing the next game, which was only three days after his first injury.
That being said, Tagovailoa was cleared by an outside party and started the next game against the Bengals. After a big sack, he hit his head and what every viewer saw next was his gnarled hands in the air in a very unnatural and disturbing way, showing immediate brain damage, according to neuroscientist Chris Nowinski.
This was an extremely unprofessional show by the NFL on how they view injuries.
Instead of Tagovailoa’s injury being taken care of and putting his well-being first, he was put back onto the field and the consequences followed.
While it may seem like this is an extreme example of the dangers of football, there are plenty of others.
For example, Lions defensive back Saivion Smith was attempting to jam Patriots tight end Hunter Henry during a week five game when he was hit in the throat, according to the Bleacher Report.
This caused him to have a seizure and fall to the ground, paralyzed.
An ambulance had to be brought onto the field to take him to the hospital while his parents sat in the front.
The NCAA has just as much of a problem. Many young stars are losing their careers to drastic injuries.
Keylon Stokes is a wide receiver for the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.
While attempting to catch a pass, Stokes was hit in the head by an opposing player, sending him to the ground and unable to walk off the field.
There are several more examples of players being hit with so much force that they are unresponsive or unable to move.
These types of injuries can leave permanent damage on players, damaging them in the long run.
Safety has always been a large concern in football, but has it truly changed?
The NFL and NCAA are putting a profusion of funding into making the leagues safer.