{"id":268,"date":"2026-07-08T17:45:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:45:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:45:28","slug":"a-horrific-nfl-story-shows-brain-damages-terrible-toll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268","title":{"rendered":"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I\u2019m a football fan who\u2019s been lucky enough to make something of a living writing about it, and I know former players who made great lives and have even won championships in the NFL. But I\u2019m deeply ambivalent on days we get the kind of news we got Tuesday. Researchers at Boston University announced that Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot in November, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy.<\/p>\n

Read more MaddowBlog<\/a><\/p>\n

On the night he died, Kneeland was reportedly clocked driving more than 145 mph, and the Texas trooper who got behind him says he ignored his flashing lights and kept going.\u00a0 \u00a0Kneeland crashed his car and fled the scene of the crash, and about an hour after he texted a group chat goodbye, his dead body was found in a portable restroom. He was 24.<\/p>\n

The whole story is horrific, but Kneeland\u2019s young age makes it even more so. He had been a model citizen, with no history of arrest and no disciplinary issues either in the NFL or at Western Michigan University. He was drafted in the second round of the NFL draft in 2024, but he didn\u2019t even live through his second professional season. His demise at such a young age and at such an early point in his career suggests that there isn\u2019t an acceptable amount of football as far as the health of a player\u2019s brain is concerned.<\/p>\n

Despite the publicity surrounding the 2015 movie \u201cConcussion\u201d and the NFL\u2019s legal battles with its players union over damage to players\u2019 brains, many people still associate CTE with NFL retirees who have had long careers. Mike Webster, the Pittsburgh Steelers center from the 1970s and \u201980s, died at age 50 in 2002, and his death and the research that followed was featured in \u201cConcussion.\u201d Legendary San Diego Chargers linebacker Junior Seau took his own life in 2012 at age 43, and NFL retirees Dave Duerson and Ray Easterling, who had mental health issues they couldn\u2019t explain, did the same thing as Seau. They shot themselves in the chest, presumably so their brains could be preserved for research.<\/p>\n

Researchers have said for years that CTE is cumulative. It can take hold while players are in their prime and progress as violent collisions accumulate. Kneeland\u2019s autopsy found that he had Stage 1 CTE. Stage 4 is the worst.<\/p>\n

In a statement Tuesday, Kneeland\u2019s family (including his girlfriend, Catalina Mancera) said the player\u2019s postmortem diagnosis \u201cprovides important context about some of the struggles he may have been facing.\u201d They said they hoped their statement would raise awareness and \u201chelp people understand what NFL and other high contact sport athletes might be struggling with.\u201d In that statement, his family said they would \u201ccontinue to remember Marshawn with compassion for the person he was, rather than defining him by the final moments of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Donald Trump is building the White House the best helipad in the world<\/a><\/p>\n

It remains to be seen what impact, if any, Kneeland\u2019s death at such a young age will have on parents of children and teenagers who want to play.\u00a0We know that past stories have had at least some effect. In August, ESPN conducted a survey of 546 men who had played at least one game during the 1988 NFL season. A quarter of them said they believe tackle football should be banned before high school.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just former players who are concerned. Although football remains the most popular sport for high school boys in the U.S., a 2023 Washington Post analysis found that in Texas, a hotbed of youth football and a state known as a pipeline to the NFL, football participation had dropped about 12% over the previous decade. The newspaper found that between 2006 and the time of its report, participation in high school football had fallen 17%, \u201ca larger decline than any of the other top 10 most popular boys\u2019 sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Edmonds, who played high school ball in western Pennsylvania, college ball at West Virginia University and in the NFL for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2002 and 2003, told me Tuesday that he sometimes has to watch old tapes of himself to remember some of the best moments of his career, like sacking Eli Manning and Michael Vick in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened, but I don\u2019t remember,\u201d he said. But the 48-year-old Edmonds, who undergoes periodic cognitive tests arranged by the NFL Players Association, does remember what happened to Chris Henry, who played at West Virginia and for the Bengals after Edmonds did. Henry fell (or perhaps jumped) out of the bed of a moving pickup truck being driven by his fianc\u00e9e, with whom he was arguing. Henry, who was 26, was the first active player found to have had CTE.<\/p>\n

But people can know the risks of playing football and still find it an acceptable risk to take. That\u2019s why we can be sure that even if the news of Kneeland\u2019s demise discourages some people, there will still be many families who decide on playing. <\/p>\n

Chris Henry Jr. is a receiver at Ohio State University. Chris Edmonds\u2019 son Jorden Edmonds, a five-star recruit, will play cornerback this fall at the University of Alabama. \u201cI always knew that I was going to pay more than we got paid for playing the game,\u201d Chris Edmonds said. \u201cI just don\u2019t talk about it to him. Jorden worked his ass off to get to where he got. I\u2019d be a hypocrite, because that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s reaction to NATO leaders\u2019 flattery was entirely predictable<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshawn Kneeland\u2019s demise at such an early point in his career suggests that there isn\u2019t an acceptable amount of football for the health of a player\u2019s brain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nA horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll - Long Distance Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll - Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marshawn Kneeland\u2019s demise at such an early point in his career suggests that there isn\u2019t an acceptable amount of football for the health of a player\u2019s brain.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-08T17:45:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"headline\":\"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T17:45:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268\"},\"wordCount\":945,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/0ee763b514f2e83d904946cefcb1f38b.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268\",\"name\":\"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll - Long Distance Movers USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/0ee763b514f2e83d904946cefcb1f38b.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T17:45:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/0ee763b514f2e83d904946cefcb1f38b.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/0ee763b514f2e83d904946cefcb1f38b.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=268#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Long Distance Movers USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll - Long Distance Movers USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll - Long Distance Movers USA","og_description":"Marshawn Kneeland\u2019s demise at such an early point in his career suggests that there isn\u2019t an acceptable amount of football for the health of a player\u2019s brain.","og_url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268","og_site_name":"Long Distance Movers USA","article_published_time":"2026-07-08T17:45:28+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"headline":"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll","datePublished":"2026-07-08T17:45:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268"},"wordCount":945,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0ee763b514f2e83d904946cefcb1f38b.webp","articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268","name":"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll - Long Distance Movers USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0ee763b514f2e83d904946cefcb1f38b.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-08T17:45:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0ee763b514f2e83d904946cefcb1f38b.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0ee763b514f2e83d904946cefcb1f38b.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=268#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A horrific NFL story shows brain damage\u2019s terrible toll"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/","name":"Long Distance Movers USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com"],"url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}