He literally did not move a muscle & just lay there frozen holding his head for up to 10 minutes until they strapped him to the board & the ambulance carried him away so that you had to wonder if he was paralyzed.

Utecht was very rangy/spindly for a TE anyway & you have to wonder whether he had a particular inherent vulnerability to head/brain trauma.

Do concussions come with the territory? Yes. Did he know the risks and play anyway. Most likely. But does anyone deserve to go through what he’s going through now? No.

Remove yourself from all of the articles about Harrison, and all of the new rules the NFL has implemented, and read this article for what it is – a guy telling his story (without complaining, by the way).

We all face risks every day. You run the risk of burning your house down when you turn on the stove.. you run the risk of getting hit by a car when you go jogging down the street.. you run the risk of being bitten by a shark if you swim in the ocean… you run the risk of dying in the most horrible way possible when you get on a plane. Even if I had never heard your name before, if I read in the newspaper about your house burning down, your 3 month hospital visit, your leg being amputated, or your tragic death, I wouldn’t shrug my shoulders and say, “oh well.. they knew what they were getting into.”

To say that all players know what they are getting into is false. While they know there is an inherent risk, we as a society are learning more and more about the long term damage head injuries can cause. One of the best case examples is the link between PTSD and traumatic brain injury commonly seen in combat veterans.

Good luck, Ben. I hope more people speak up like you.

And everyday you walk out of the house, life is filled with inherent dangers but it’s ok to file a lawsuit when someone makes a mistake. He’s not even complaining. Someone asked him and he answered the question. So for the plumber analogy, if your plumber brother just so happened to have the roof fall in on him when he’s working then it must be considered an inherent danger from working inside a house and no one should care.

Everyone knows it’s a violent sport so save the justification for why you think he should be quiet or has no excuse for something he’s not blaming anything/anyone for. Money doesn’t fix the long term affects on the body if there’s no cure. It just buys you a more comfortable bed.

First, just because the players know the risks prior to signing up to be a professional football player doesn’t mean that all actions should not be taken to protect them. Many jobs have serious risks, way worse than football (i.e. miners, firefighters, even taxi drivers); however, people do what they need to do in order to put food on the table. There is also such programs as workers compensation, disability, etc. to protect Americans from lifelong struggles secondary to work hazards.

Secondly, the problem will not be solved by using better helmets. Although it would help, a large percentage of concussions that occur in individuals with a concussion history are due directly to blows to the body. Generalized concussions can be just as severe as a direct hit to the head.

Imagine QB’s getting their hands on that. Playbook memorized in 1 week… Screw the off-season coach, I’m good, in fact why don’t we ever run anything on page 249.

Kind of goes with the terrain, doesn’t it?

These guys go into their profession knowing the risks, and if they don’t, they should have paid better attention in those free college classes they took.

That said, I sincerely hope his condition only improves.

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“…paid better attention in those free college classes they took.” The guy has memory loss…

Time to make the ProCap mandatory equipment, league wide.

…PROBLEM SOLVED !

For one thing, memory loss is completely subjective – no one really knows if he’s forgetting things on purpose. It’s also a handy way to get attention for a washed up ex-player.

Second, even if he is really having memory loss, we don’t know if concussions were the cause. It sounds liek he had a weak constitution to begin with. That would be like someone with, say, a heart-valve defect who plays football, his heart explodes, then blames the heart failure on football: yeah, teh stress of the game pushed his heart past its limits, but he never should have been out there.

Look on the bright side, at least you made enough money to pay people to remember stuff for you if it does get worse.”

The guy wasn’t drafted, and played four years. Yeah – I’m sure he has a room full of gold coins that he dives into at night for fun.

I suppose having refs come down on hits is cheaper then doing studies on helmet design, but the NFL should really put their money where their mouth is.