A comprehensive new study on the brains of former NFL players was published Tuesday and included some eye-popping results. Brains of 202 deceased former football players (at various levels) were studied, including 111 of those who played in the NFL. Nearly 90 percent of all the brains, and all but one of the brains of former NFL players, were found to have CTE, according to the New York Times.
The study was conducted by neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is caused by repeated trauma to the head and is known to cause memory loss, depression and dementia, even many years after the football-playing career has ended. In this study, the numbers may have been skewed due to the fact that most who volunteered to donate their brains had likely had pre-existing concerns that they had CTE. However, it is the latest in a string of evidence that playing football can cause CTE.
The 49ers, and the Bay Area football scene in general, is no stranger to CTE-related issues. Former Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler’s brain was included in McKee’s study, and he was found to have “moderately severe” CTE. San Francisco linebacker Chris Borland famously retired in 2015 after just one year in the NFL due to concerns about his long-term health.
“I just honestly want to do what’s best for my health,” Borland said to ESPN at the time. “From what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think it’s worth the risk.”
Earlier this year, a pair of former 49ers made news for their concern over whether or not they have CTE. Former 49ers and Raiders running back Charlie Garner, just 45 years old, said he and his doctors think he has the disease. Though it can only truly be diagnosed after death, symptoms can be telling. Garner said he has trouble remembering simple things.
“When I go to the mall or grocery store, I have to take one of my kids with me to remember where the car is parked,” Garner said to Sporting News in April. “I have trouble remembering conversations I had five minutes ago. Bright lights bother me. I just don’t feel right all the time.”
Randy Cross, a lineman on three Super Bowl-winning 49er teams, was part of a group of former players that announced in April plans to donate their brains for research after they die. Of the 111 brains studied in the latest research project by McKee, 44 were those of linemen, who arguably face the most physicality on the football field.
The latest revelations may be unlikely to have any direct impact on the NFL or Bay Area football, but the attitudes about the sport and its impacts are certainly shifting around the country.
