I did not recall his name, but I do recall feeling that our LT on Mack's final 2 teams was excellent and should have an NFL career.
Is this a case of concussions only? Maybe, but I doubt it. Nobody was as aware then as we are now that head injuries could be so bad long term. But concussions were acknowledged. There is no evidence that he had a series of head ringers, as, say, Steve Young did.
I think the article shows the underlying issues. He became depressed when he did not make the NFL. I think he had underlying mental health issues independent of football injuries. Obviously, head injuries would make that underlying condition worse, perhaps much worse.
But whatever is the source of his current status, there should be no doubt that football head injury is part of the reason. There really is no way any of us can say what would be best to help him now. Most p[eoople in this type shape are very hard to help, for all kinds of reasons. It takes on site professionals with experience working with the homeless and alcoholcs and drug addicts to know what is most likely tp help with minimal negative repurcussions in specific cases.
But for football, I think we must see even more flags for all kinds of hits to the head, as well as with the head. It is not simply a problme whe a defender uses his helmet to hit a ball carrier in the helmet. It is a problem when a strong player forearms, or even slaps, any player in the helmet. It is a problem when a blocker uses his helmet to block.
If we don;t get ahead of this problem, the game will be hurt long term.
