Two-time Pro Bowl punter Jim Arnold, who has joined the latest lawsuit against the NFL, says punters suffer brain damage in on-field collisions, too.
Arnold told the Detroit News a neurologist examined him about a year and a half ago and told him he suffered “several concussions” during his lifetime.
In a career that saw him play three seasons for the Chiefs, seven for the Lions and one for the Dolphins, Arnold says he prided himself on being able to make a tackle on a punt return if he had to. Although he says, “it took a while for me to clear some cobwebs,” he would keep playing.
Arnold was never diagnosed with a concussion while he was an active player, but that’s the point many former players are making in their lawsuits: The NFL, the teams and the medical staffs didn’t do anything about it -- didn’t even recognize it -- when players suffered concussions. And if a punter was involved in enough collisions that he thinks he had several concussions, every player in NFL history may have had several concussions.