Arguably the biggest football-related story of the week involved the revelation that a study showed that at least 25% of former NFL players who died from 2016-21 suffered from the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known as “CTE.”
During a conversation with Matt Verderame of Sports Illustrated, Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton spoke openly about the risks he accepts while playing a sport that could shorten his life.
Kyle Hamilton willing to “fall on my sword” and accept the risks of playing football
“It’s a dangerous sport, it’s a collision sport,” Hamilton said about football. “It’s something we all acknowledge. If I can put my future self, my future family, my kids and their kids in a position of success, and I sacrifice a little bit, I’m fine with that personally. I don’t know how I feel about my kids playing football necessarily; there’s so many other things you can do. But from my perspective, I see it as I fall on my sword for people who have provided for me and people that I will provide for.”
The NFL has taken noteworthy steps to make play safer, such as attempting to eliminate hits to the head, allowing players to wear Guardian Caps during games and changing how kickoffs are completed. That said, recent history shows there’s no way for the league to fully prevent players from suffering worrisome head injuries each season.
In 2023 and 2024, members of the football community called for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to retire due to his concussion history. Jaxson Dart of the New York Giants has been checked for a concussion on six different occasions already in his young career, and he missed two games last November while in the concussion protocol.
“I’d probably push [my future kids] in a different direction,” Hamilton said about his children possibly playing football past the high-school level. “But if they’re like, ‘Dad, I love football, and it’s what I love and what I want to do,’ then I’ll teach them about safety and all this other stuff. But there’s only one way to play football, and that’s physically.”
Kyle Hamilton understands the reality of an 18-game season
Meanwhile, it continues to seem like it’s a matter of when and not if the NFL will switch to an 18-game regular-season format. The NFL Players Association opposes such a plan for reasons related to safety, but Hamilton can see the writing on the wall.
“I don’t think it’s really realistic in terms of union versus shield power,” Hamilton explained. “I think everything these days dilutes itself. …I think we’ll be at 20 games before we know it. I wouldn’t be surprised in the next 10 years or so if that happens. It’s about money at the end of the day.”
Per the terms of the collective bargaining agreement that expires in 2031, the NFLPA must agree to expand the regular season. Such a change reportedly won’t happen before 2028 at the earliest.