The NFL has a long and complex relationship with brain injuries and concussions. In 2021 a $1bn settlement saw the American football league agree to end race-based adjustments in dementia testing relating to black retirees.
Just over a decade ago the New Orleans Saints were caught up in “Bountygate” after awarding their players non-contract bonuses for knocking opponents out of a game. And since the NFL Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) Committee was formed in 1994 there have been a number of legal actions taken against the league.
The NFL is not alone – other sports struggle with similar complexities when it comes to head injuries and protecting players – but the need to address the issue has long been overshadowing the brilliant on-field action.
And while you cannot always prevent the next Bountygate coming along, the league is looking to reduce concussions – there were 219 in the 2023 preseason – across the sport using data.
Partnering with cloud computing giant AWS, the NFL is collecting over 500m data points per week to create a “Digital Athlete” profile for each player. The league uses this data to design rule changes to make the game safer and manage the training loads of players.
NFL using data
“You’ve got sensors in the shoulder pads, but in some players also in the helmets and in the mouth guards,” Julie Souza, AWS global head of sports, tells City AM ahead of this weekend’s London Series opener between the New York Jets and the Minnesota Vikings.
“The real point of this is identifying athletes and preventing injury. So how can we adjust player workloads to make sure that players at risk don’t actually incur the injuries that maybe we’re flagging them for.
“And so you’ve seen things like the dynamic kickoff, a new rule that’s come into effect, and the banning of the hip drop tackle.
“I’ve heard an executive say [the dynamic kickoff] was a throwaway play but it was also causing a tremendous amount of injury as well – I think concussions were occurring at four times the average rate of a regular play.”
This not only makes the game more exciting but also reduces injury rate, she says.
Wider problem
As mentioned earlier, this is not just an NFL problem. There has been criticism over concussion protocols in football that has led to changes in substitution rules, while rugby too has experimented with mouth guards to monitor player load.
Gloucester rugby player and former NFL running back Christian Wade, however, believes that the 15-man game can learn from gridiron.
“[Attitudes to player welfare in rugby] are kind of our fault. A lot of players are expecting to be spoon fed and told that they’re going to do this, eat this, do this recovery today. And some guys do it and some guys don’t,” Wade told a Viagogo event last week.
“In America the contracts aren’t guaranteed so if you don’t [listen] then whatever the consequences are could lead to you being cut and that’s where the difference in motivation is. If I can get cut tomorrow I will do everything I can today.”
Concussion solution?
So, then, a healthy balance of data-led science and player self-care can help to minimise needless concussions.
The risk of injury cannot be completely avoided without lessening the appeal of professional sport, but the NFL is among those leading the way.
“Last year was the first year that the league’s 32 clubs had access to the Digital Athlete,” Souza adds. “So they have been diving in and trying to understand how they use that tool.
“The cool thing about data is that it just sits there waiting for us to ask questions about it. We’ve talked about lower extremity [injuries], we’ve talked about concussions. Are there other injuries that we’re seeing?
“Ultimately fans want their favourite players on the field. So everybody is invested in player health and safety.”