New Study Links NFL Careers to Widespread CTE Prevalence

As the NFL prepares to kick off its new season this Wednesday, a widely circulated study published in the British Journal of Medicine has provided further evidence regarding the prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) among former players, as first reported by The Guardian.

According to reporting from The Guardian, the study analyzed donated brains from former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021. Of the 235 donated brains examined, 215 showed evidence of CTE. This group represents 24.5% of the total number of former players who died during that specific timeframe. Based on these findings, the study's authors estimate the actual prevalence of CTE among players who died in that period ranges from a minimum of 24.5% to a maximum of 97.7%.

The report highlights that the risk of CTE is tied to repeated blows to the head, including the subconcussive hits occurring during line collisions and high-impact plays. The Guardian notes that every 2.6 years of football participation doubles the risk of developing CTE. This is attributed to the fact that a single athlete in a typical college or high school season can sustain between 600 and 1,000 subconcussive blows, which are linked to cognitive impairment, executive dysfunction, apathy, and clinical depression later in life.

Beyond CTE, the data indicates that football players face a 61% higher chance of developing Parkinson's disease compared to athletes in other organized sports. This risk is 2.93 times greater for those who played at the professional or collegiate level than for those who played only in high school or youth leagues.

The human cost of these injuries is further illustrated by the deaths of former players. Data cited by The Guardian indicates that of the nine former NFL players under 48 who died in 2025, seven took their own lives.

In the 2024 book *The End of College Football: On The Human Cost of an All-American Game*, authors Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva detail interviews with former college players regarding the sport's neurological impact. One player described suffering through 10 concussions, resulting in an inability to focus in school and frequent memory loss. Another player cited a panic disorder resulting from sub-concussive blows, while a third expressed fear over the unknown cognitive price paid for playing through unreported concussions.

These findings stand in contrast to recent public sentiment, such as a Friday op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by former senator Ben Sasse, who argued that "America needs its boys to play football."