My NFL experience began 20 years ago, when I was drafted by the New York Giants. I have seen — as a player and now an executive and advocate for football — how the NFL continues to improve player health and safety. NFL coaches and players use safer tackling techniques, and we’ve made 42 rule changes over the past decade to protect our players. The league and the NFL Players Association reduced the number of full-contact practices and improved field surfaces to help lower the likelihood of injuries.
NFL sidelines, meanwhile, are nothing less than transformed. More people are watching for injuries to ensure that players are treated immediately by the most experienced and cutting-edge sports medicine doctors. Each game is staffed by at least 27 medical professionals, including unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants and independent certified athletic trainers. New last season, athletic trainers were empowered to call medical timeouts.
It’s no coincidence that we saw a higher number of call-downs to flag potential injuries as well as a significant increase in concussion screenings.
Further, we work with leading organizations, such as USA Football and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, so progress made at the professional level on rules, equipment, training and practice filters down to young athletes.
This is our commitment: continually make changes to improve the safety of the game at all levels while investing heavily in research that drives more change. The league’s support for independent research will continue to be robust so that advanced understanding of brain science, including CTE, can spur promising innovations for detecting, preventing and treating head injuries.
As a former player and father of two sons who play football, I understand the game has risks and rewards. The benefits and values are real and long-lasting, such as commitment to team, determination, and working together to overcome challenges. But football is a contact sport. It is our job to make those who play football at any age as safe as they can be.
Continuing that work is our highest priority.
Roman Oben, who played 12 years in the NFL, is the league’s senior director of junior football development.
