Brooks admits that personally, CTE is something that he has given plenty of consideration to as far as both how much longer he intends to play the game and what his family's life might look like as a result of his six-year playing career.
"I’ve known for a long time. Does the reward outweigh the risk? Yeah, to a certain degree, especially when you’re younger. As you get older, you think about it a little bit more, just because as you get older you’re more on the back-half of your career and you’ve made most of your money career-wise. You start thinking that you want to spend as long as you can seeing your kids grow older and things like that, but because of the game you play and the game you love to play, it’s a possibility that you may die younger than the average person. You know getting into it, how tough this game is.
“Think about it … As far as the human body goes, there’s nothing that’s built into our brains that is like a ‘human shock absorber.’ They try to do the best they can as far as helmets go, but a concussion comes down to your brain hitting your skull. There’s nothing physically to really stop that.
“I’m six years in, now. It is what it is. I look at it like, if something would happen to me, it’s more of a sacrifice for my wife and kinds into the future. It’s an opportunity to change their lives and their futures. As grim as it is to say, I’ve played long enough that either it’s going to happen, or it’s not. I’m not going to change my career-path. I’m playing the game I love."
The fact that the brains studied of former offensive linemen yielded the highest percentage of any position group impacted by CTE, Brooks says that he isn't surprised but that the study will play a factor in how he exposes his children to actually playing the game.
"We’re hitting our head on every play," Brooks said. "Running the ball, pass-blocking, I think the misconception is that people see safeties and receivers getting the big hits, but it’s not the big hits … If you’re getting your head hit on every play constantly whether it’s practice from when you were a little kid up until now and in all the games, obviously that’s going to have some sort of an effect.”
“I probably wouldn’t let them play until they were at least 12 and let their brains develop a little bit longer. Maybe when they’re in high school or something like that. I know shows like Friday Night Tykes has six or seven year-old kids laying each other out. I could never allow my kids to do that.”
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