For many Americans, football is more than a sport — it’s a way of life. Since the merger of the AFL and NFL in 1966, football has ridden the wave of the American thirst for sporting action to become America’s new pastime. This growth has manifested itself in the NFL’s viewership numbers — the last Super Bowl was watched by over 120 million people. With such prevalent success amongst both casual and hardcore fans alike, the NFL has meticulously crafted its brand image to be that of the perfect sport.
Unfortunately, this is not the case.
If you’re a fan of the NFL, there’s a decent chance that you’ve heard of the term “CTE” before. CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a brain condition that causes the nerve cells within the brain to degenerate and die. Major symptoms of the disease include cognitive impairment, impulsive behavior, mood instability and impaired coordination. However, the symptoms do not normally develop immediately after trauma and often take decades to manifest. It’s important to note that CTE can only be diagnosed posthumously.
While research regarding CTE has mostly been conducted throughout the 21st century, curiosity regarding the condition has existed since the 1920s when doctors questioned the “punch drunk syndrome” that many boxers experienced after repeated blows to the head. Interestingly, it was not until 2022 that the United States National Institutes of Health acknowledged the link between cranial trauma and CTE.
With these advancements in the study of CTE, sports leagues across the globe have been scrutinized for what many believe to be inadequate player safety standards. And, as far as testimony from former players go, no league has fared worse than the NFL. In a survey conducted by Harvard University, one third of retired football players interviewed believed that they had CTE. Additionally, more than 300 players have been diagnosed with the condition after an autopsy, including infamous Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who was convicted of first-degree murder in the prime of his NFL career. Hernandez was 27 years old at the time of his death in prison and has been cited as the worst case of CTE ever seen in a young person.
While the NFL has recently been making strides to improve player safety by increasing the amount of protective wear players can wear during games, concussions and CTE still linger. The rate of concussions suffered by NFL players has not significantly decreased — in fact, it slightly increased between the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been a major focus of recent player safety, as he has suffered his third concussion while playing in just his fifth season in the league. Many pundits and former players have requested that Tagovailoa retire in order to preserve his health, but Tagovailoa has stated that he plans to continue playing. Ultimately, while Tagovailoa’s injury history is concerning, it is far from the worst case in the NFL.
Perhaps no player in recent history is more memorable for his possibly CTE-related struggle than Antonio Brown. Seen as one of the best players of the 2010s, Brown, nicknamed “AB,” lit up the scoreboard in an illustrious nine year NFL career. He amassed four Pro Bowl selections from 2014-2017 with monster seasons. Brown was a longtime Pittsburgh Steeler, cultivating an excellent connection between him and franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. But 2021 was Brown’s last NFL season.
When examining all the hits Brown may have taken that could have caused possible CTE, one stands out as the most violent. In the 2016 AFC Wild Card game, Brown was leveled on an uncatchable pass by middle linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who was coming across the field in the opposite direction. The hit knocked Brown out cold. Burfict, who was disciplined many times in his career for putting other player’s health at risk, was suspended the first three games of the next season.
Brown pulled his most notorious stunt in January 2022, during one of the final weeks of the 2021 season. In a show of defiance against a coaching and training staff trying to get him to play on an ankle injury, Brown stripped down to nothing but his bare chest in the middle of a game against the New York Jets. He left his pads and jersey near a sideline bench and chucked his undershirt and gloves into a confused crowd, prancing off though the tunnel to the locker room while waving goodbye. While the Buccaneers characterized the incident as “mental-health-related,” Brown insists that his unexpected outburst resulted in mistreatment from the team, saying that he was “thrown out like an animal” when asked to play through an injury. He advertised his side of the story in a lengthy interview with ESPN.
Brown has gone back and forth between believing that he does or does not have CTE. After his incident with the Buccaneers, he never mentioned the disease, but has since come on several different podcasts and platforms stating that he is, in fact, a victim. Brown has launched a musical career under the nickname “AB,” delivering hits such as “Whole Lotta Money (feat. Rick Ross)” and “Pit Not The Palace.” Brown also authors a pseudo-football beat reporter account on X (formerly twitter). Notably, each post is marked with his new favorite saying: #CTESPN.
For Brown, such flamboyant acknowledgement of his condition provides a new perspective on his legacy. While Brown’s on-field talent allowed him to craft a brilliant career, his recent actions have made one thing clear: his condition is one that will define him forever. Unlike other players, he isn’t shying away from it.
Contact Mac Ribner and Ben Petteruti at ribner@oxy.edu and petteruti@oxy.edu
