Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis and Patriots owner Robert Kraft are both on a tour of Israel that included a visit to a neurotechnology company that wants to improve the ways doctors diagnose concussions. But they’re not necessarily on the same page.
Bettis said he thinks the NFL has taken advantage of players by not giving them the full information they’re entitled to about the risks of brain injuries. Kraft, however, said the NFL has taken great strides in improving player safety.
“I really think that may be overdone a little bit. I mean, I don’t think the game has ever been safer than it is now,” Kraft told the Associated Press.
That might be true: The NFL has changed in several ways -- ranging from limiting contact practices in the offseason to mandating that players with concussions be removed from games to cracking down on helmet-to-helmet hits -- that are intended to make football safer than it was in decades past.
Saying the game has never been safer, however, is not the same as saying the game is safe. There are still a lot of players suffering concussions, and still a lot of questions about how healthy those players’ brains will be when they’re Robert Kraft’s age.