Vincent Jackson

[Kress]

I think we all pretty much knew this, but now we officially know this:

TAMPA, Fla. -- Former Chargers and Buccaneers wide receiver Vincent Jackson, who was found dead earlier this year in a Florida hotel room, has been diagnosed with Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the Concussion Legacy Foundation announced Thursday.

Jackson, who spent seven seasons playing for the Chargers and five for the Buccaneers, was found dead in a Brandon, Florida, hotel room in February after his family reported him missing. He had been staying at the hotel for a month. He was 38 years old.

"Vincent dedicated so much of his life to helping others. Even in his passing, I know he would want to continue that same legacy," Jackson's widow, Lindsey Jackson, said in a statement.

"By donating his brain to the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, we hope to continue to see advancements in CTE research, enabling physicians to diagnose the disease in the living and ultimately find treatment options in the future. There is still a lot to be understood about CTE, and education is the key to prevention. The conversation around this topic needs to be more prevalent, and our family hopes that others will feel comfortable and supported when talking about CTE moving forward."

CTE is a condition of brain degeneration caused from repetitive blows to the head. It affects mood, thinking and behavior, and symptoms may not appear for years. It is marked by widespread accumulation of a protein called tau. It cannot be diagnosed in the living, nor can it be found in a traditional autopsy.

"Vincent Jackson was a brilliant, disciplined, gentle giant whose life began to change in his mid-30s. He became depressed, with progressive memory loss, problem solving difficulties, paranoia, and eventually extreme social isolation," Dr. Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the BU CTE Center and VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, said in a statement.

"That his brain showed stage 2 CTE should no longer surprise us; these results have become commonplace," McKee said of Jackson. "What is surprising is that so many football players have died with CTE and so little is being done to make football, at all levels, safer by limiting the number of repetitive subconcussive hits. CTE will not disappear by ignoring it, we need to actively address the risk that football poses to brain health and to support the players who are struggling."

Jackson is the second former player this week confirmed to have Stage 2 CTE. Former NFL cornerback Phillip Adams was 32 when he shot and killed himself and six others in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in April. He was found to have an "extraordinary amount of CTE" in the frontal lobe of his brain, according to McKee, who studied the brains of both athletes.

In 12 seasons, Jackson recorded 540 catches for 9,080 yards and 57 touchdowns. He reached the 1,000-yard threshold in six of those seasons, and he was named to the Pro Bowl three times.

He was the Buccaneers' Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee for four seasons before retiring from football in 2016, dedicating his life to helping military families through his Jackson in Action 83 Foundation. He also authored three children's books, designed to help children and their families cope with challenges unique to the military. He also owned five restaurants.

[Snake]

99% of NFL players have or will be found to have CTE. The question is how severe.

If scientists ever develop a blood test that can reliably trace degenerative brain disease in a living human at a given time, it’s probably over for tackle football. Currently it can’t be tested for reliably even with imaging tech. Theoretically, all NFL players could be subject to a blood screening every year to ensure they haven’t hit some defined line of no return. However, 66% of college players are estimated to have CTE IIRC. Another question is how many people in the general populace have a degree of this. I’m not sure if that’s been explored. And at what point it goes from “detectable” to symptomatic or even mattering at all.

It’s definitely a spectre hanging over the sport. Peewee football and all has to go. Hopefully getting rid of that will help the accumulation of damage leading to that 99%.

[kaimaru]

If you watched the Man In the Area, so will Brady. He head butts his teammates multiple times when he is fired up.

[Babeinbucland]

This is just so heartbreaking. People don’t understand that the brain rattles around in the skull and has the consistency basically of jello - repetitive head butting in all sports - even though sub-concussive- are still quite damaging.

[Primeminister]

99% of NFL players have or will be found to have CTE. The question is how severe.

If scientists ever develop a blood test that can reliably trace degenerative brain disease in a living human at a given time, it’s probably over for tackle football. Currently it can’t be tested for reliably even with imaging tech. Theoretically, all NFL players could be subject to a blood screening every year to ensure they haven’t hit some defined line of no return. However, 66% of college players are estimated to have CTE IIRC. Another question is how many people in the general populace have a degree of this. I’m not sure if that’s been explored. And at what point it goes from “detectable” to symptomatic or even mattering at all.

It’s definitely a spectre hanging over the sport. Peewee football and all has to go. Hopefully getting rid of that will help the accumulation of damage leading to that 99%.

Do you think even with early testing that the NFL will go away? I doubt it personally. There are players who would retire earlier and I expect to see more and more of that even now. However, the large majority of those players would still choose to play the game at this high level for the money.

A positive downstream effect of NIL in NCAA is we might see more talented players choosing to “retire” after college because they’ve already made millions. That will obviously be healthier long term.

[Snake]

It’s a good question and hard to wrap your arms around the enormity of the problem it would create if it happened. How many NFL stadiums are still being paid for by taxpayers? Are we about to have 32 mostly useless stadiums sitting in metros doing nothing as taxpayers foot the bill for half for the next 20 years? Oof.

There’s also the liability/insurance aspect, which is not my bailiwick. Who decides what an NFL physical requires? Who is this reported to? Contracts - especially mega deals - are insured. Insurers are gonna want to know that information if it’s available.

Do legislators get involved? They tend to during moral crises in pro sports.

[njdungeoneer]

I surely never thought that I would look upon the life of Vincent Jackson with anything but reverence. He was the ultimate Buccaneer warrior both on the field and off the field. He then built a great business enterprise after being a superior leader for his team and the NFL. It now appears that CTE is a far more prevalent deadly ailment for most former NFL players. I am sincerely grateful that he was a superb leader for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

[Terry Tate]

99% of NFL players have or will be found to have CTE. The question is how severe.

If scientists ever develop a blood test that can reliably trace degenerative brain disease in a living human at a given time, it’s probably over for tackle football. Currently it can’t be tested for reliably even with imaging tech. Theoretically, all NFL players could be subject to a blood screening every year to ensure they haven’t hit some defined line of no return. However, 66% of college players are estimated to have CTE IIRC. Another question is how many people in the general populace have a degree of this. I’m not sure if that’s been explored. And at what point it goes from “detectable” to symptomatic or even mattering at all.

It’s definitely a spectre hanging over the sport. Peewee football and all has to go. Hopefully getting rid of that will help the accumulation of damage leading to that 99%.

Not just tackle football. Soccer players are at risk from heading the ball. Pro wrestlers and fighters too.

[wesmon]

Someone keep an eye on Brett Favre.

Really scary stuff. Just a couple days ago they announced that that ex-nfl player in South Carolina that killed six people had stage 2 CTE.

[Snake]

99% of NFL players have or will be found to have CTE. The question is how severe.

If scientists ever develop a blood test that can reliably trace degenerative brain disease in a living human at a given time, it’s probably over for tackle football. Currently it can’t be tested for reliably even with imaging tech. Theoretically, all NFL players could be subject to a blood screening every year to ensure they haven’t hit some defined line of no return. However, 66% of college players are estimated to have CTE IIRC. Another question is how many people in the general populace have a degree of this. I’m not sure if that’s been explored. And at what point it goes from “detectable” to symptomatic or even mattering at all.

It’s definitely a spectre hanging over the sport. Peewee football and all has to go. Hopefully getting rid of that will help the accumulation of damage leading to that 99%.

Not just tackle football. Soccer players are at risk from heading the ball. Pro wrestlers and fighters too.

In some euro soccer academies, youth strikers take 1000 headers a day for more days of the year than not. This goes on for years. That’s an absurd amount of subconcussive brain trauma.

[nybf]

Not just tackle football. Soccer players are at risk from heading the ball. Pro wrestlers and fighters too.

In some euro soccer academies, youth strikers take 1000 headers a day for more days of the year than not. This goes on for years. That’s an absurd amount of subconcussive brain trauma.

This sounds like facebook fear mongering

[IronDog]

I can just imagine what the list of boxers would look like. At least in most contact sports, like football, head impacts can be somewhat moderated and protected against.But something like fisticuffs, or kick-boxing, where one of your prime targets is the mellon....Good grief!

[BLT]

Someone keep an eye on Brett Favre.

Really scary stuff. Just a couple days ago they announced that that ex-nfl player in South Carolina that killed six people had stage 2 CTE.

No correlation should be insinuated.

He was a murderer. He also had CTE.

The vast majority of people that have CTE don't murder people.

[Noles1724]

In some euro soccer academies, youth strikers take 1000 headers a day for more days of the year than not. This goes on for years. That’s an absurd amount of subconcussive brain trauma.

This sounds like facebook fear mongering

might sound like it, but doesn't make it untrue.

I was surprised to find that the league my nephew plays in, they restricted headers until 15yr old.

[Snake]

Someone keep an eye on Brett Favre.

Really scary stuff. Just a couple days ago they announced that that ex-nfl player in South Carolina that killed six people had stage 2 CTE.

No correlation should be insinuated.

He was a murderer. He also had CTE.

The vast majority of people that have CTE don't murder people.

I don’t necessarily disagree with what you’re saying here but it seems to be inappropriate framing of the situation.

[uscbucsfan]

I can just imagine what the list of boxers would look like. At least in most contact sports, like football, head impacts can be somewhat moderated and protected against.But something like fisticuffs, or kick-boxing, where one of your prime targets is the mellon....Good grief!

It's speculation, but I've read CTE is worse in Football, even when compared to boxing or MMA. The speculation is age that they start playing football, amount of incidents, and area/type of collisions, especially ones that aren't expected.

[nybf]

This sounds like facebook fear mongering

might sound like it, but doesn't make it untrue.

Then you've got something that makes it true? I mean, outside of a random post on an American football message board.

[Snake]

I’m trying to track down the article I read that talked about the workload at professional soccer academies around the world. Tldr they’re boarding schools for 12 year olds where they do schooling for about 45 minutes a day then have soccer practice 8 hours a day.

[Kress]

This sounds like facebook fear mongering

might sound like it, but doesn't make it untrue.

1,000 a day? That is absolutely something somebody just made up. I mean, break it down time-wise. If you kick a ball at the kid every 20 seconds, non-stop (not even a potty break), that's over 5 1/2 hours straight of people kicking nothing but headers at you. After 20 minutes of that the kid wouldn't be able to stand up straight, much less do it for hours and hours on end.

And every striker in the academy is doing this simultaneously? More days than not? Imma call bullshit.

[Snake]

I’m sure there’s hyperbole. But cut it to 500 using your same math and suddenly it’s feasible if kids are doing nothing but that all day.

That’s a shit load of subconcussive trauma.

[Kress]

Back to football, I wonder how "sub-concussive" the average run-of-the-mill play is for an interior lineman. Especially a guy like the center who is looking back between his legs a split second before Vita Vea explodes into him. Every single play is unstoppable force hitting immovable object.

They don't start far apart, so that at least takes some speed out of the "mass time acceleration" equation, but there sure is a lot of mass and a lot of repetition.

[Kress]

I’m sure there’s hyperbole. But cut it to 500 using your same math and suddenly it’s feasible if kids are doing nothing but that all day.

That’s a shit load of subconcussive trauma.

For sure, I don't doubt that. Soccer, and headers especially, are bad on young kids, and I don't doubt the euros push it - just like we're prepping everybody in pee wee baseball for tommy john issues.

[BLT]

I’m trying to track down the article I read that talked about the workload at professional soccer academies around the world. Tldr they’re boarding schools for 12 year olds where they do schooling for about 45 minutes a day then have soccer practice 8 hours a day.

I've had these groups board at my hotels before and they are insane. Their entire day is based around sports training 7 days a week.

They also spend an insane amount of money on rooms, food, and transportation.

We could actually charge them like 30 percent less but they don't negotiate and are willing to pay so they get gouged.

[nybf]

I’m trying to track down the article I read that talked about the workload at professional soccer academies around the world. Tldr they’re boarding schools for 12 year olds where they do schooling for about 45 minutes a day then have soccer practice 8 hours a day.

I know what European soccer academies are. My cousin's kid is in one. That's why I'm interested in these outlandish numbers you guys are throwing around.