{"id":7744,"date":"2026-08-25T23:09:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T23:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7744"},"modified":"2026-08-25T23:09:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T23:09:01","slug":"studys-alarming-finding-at-least-1-in-4-nfl-players-gets-brain-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7744","title":{"rendered":"Study\u2019s alarming finding: At least 1 in 4 NFL players gets brain disease"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Since the degenerative brain disease known as CTE was first scientifically linked to football about 20 years ago, and as hundreds of former professional football players have been diagnosed with the disease after their deaths, a haunting question has lingered:<\/p>\n

Read more Alameda girl, 5, who beat cancer runs a lemonade stand to raise funds<\/a><\/p>\n

Just how many NFL players will end up with CTE?<\/p>\n

New data provides a sobering indication: At least 1 in 4 of all the people who have played in the NFL might expect to end up with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to a study of hundreds of cases over a recent six-year period.<\/p>\n

Researchers considered every former NFL player who died from 2016 to 2021. There were 878. Some died in their 20s, some in their 80s, most in between.<\/p>\n

The study\u2019s main finding was simple math: At least 215 of those 878 former players \u2014 24.5% \u2014 had CTE.<\/p>\n

The actual prevalence could be far higher. The roughly 25% rate does not consider the 643 brains that were not examined. Some of those, maybe many of them, likely had CTE too.<\/p>\n

CTE is a progressive neurological disease caused by repeated impacts to the head. It can be definitively diagnosed only by examining the brain after death.<\/p>\n

Studies have shown that the rate of CTE in people who have not sustained repeated impacts to the head is nearly zero.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

If the new study\u2019s statistics were applied to today\u2019s players \u2014 1,696 on the league\u2019s 32 regular-season rosters, not including more than 500 members of practice squads and those ineligible due to injury \u2014 at least 400 of them would be diagnosed with CTE.<\/p>\n

Experts say that the rate of brain disease represents an occupational safety hazard with little comparison in the American workplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are workers who\u2019ve been exposed to high levels of asbestos exposure, which leads to very high rates of lung disease,\u201d said David Michaels, who led the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the Obama administration and is now a professor at the George Washington School of Public Health. \u201cAnd certainly, you know, a lifetime working in coal mines leads to very high risk of black lung disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut a degenerative neurological disease \u2014 I\u2019ve never seen anything comparable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

CTE was first discovered in boxers nearly a century ago and termed \u201cdementia pugilistica.\u201d Symptoms can include memory loss, confusion and uncharacteristic mood swings, decreases in executive function, and increases in erratic and impulsive behavior, including addiction.<\/p>\n

These days, CTE is most commonly associated with football players, but it has been found in the brains of other athletes who sustained repetitive blows to the head, including hockey, rugby and soccer players, as well as wrestlers and bobsledders. Those in the military also seem susceptible to the disease.<\/p>\n

For years, the NFL downplayed the risks of repeated head trauma, often insisting that not enough is known about CTE to draw conclusions about its dangers, origins and prevalence. Uncertainty has left room for inaction; scientists have yet to decipher, among many things, why some people can play football for decades and not get CTE, while others have had severe cases in their teens.<\/p>\n

But the prevalence rate now reported by researchers might be hard to ignore. It is the latest research from neuropathologists and other scientists mostly affiliated with Mass General Brigham, Boston University and the UNITE Brain Bank, which have led CTE research and handled most donated brains of former athletes over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

Researchers involved in this study, published Tuesday in The BMJ, hope to produce a subsequent paper in the coming months estimating the overall rate of CTE in all NFL players at the time of their death.<\/p>\n

Making such an estimation is complicated by unknowns. What is certain, researchers said, is that CTE is preventable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what\u2019s causing it,\u201d said Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, the lead author of the study, the chief of brain injury rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. \u201cIt\u2019s a neurodegenerative disease where we know and have complete control over the risk. And understanding the extent of that risk is one of the steps into making sure that we can mitigate and decrease that risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Daneshvar said the biggest predictor of CTE is the cumulative force of hits to a head over a lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can change that cumulative force without changing the game of football,\u201d he said, suggesting that children refrain from playing tackle football and that teams at all levels eliminate hits during practices.<\/p>\n

The 25% rate cited in the latest research may surprise fans or others who view the game from a distance, but not those close to football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bet the real number is a lot bigger,\u201d said Randy Grimes, 66, who played center for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1983 to 1992. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s going to be a lot bigger if you add the untested ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least two of his former offensive linemates, both guards, were diagnosed with CTE: Tom McHale, who died at 45; and John Bruhin, who died at 57. Another teammate, linebacker Keith McCants, had CTE and died at 53.<\/p>\n

Grimes said he has yet to feel the symptoms that would make him worry about his own cognitive health. But he runs a nonprofit organization that counsels retired athletes, including football players, and sees symptoms that he suspects are associated with CTE.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something that\u2019s brought up, it\u2019s not something that players want to talk about,\u201d Grimes said. \u201cWe probably could move forward faster in our research if we did talk more about it. But players don\u2019t want to do it. They don\u2019t want to think they have it, they don\u2019t want to think they\u2019re seeing it. Deep down, we all know that probably the majority of us are going to have some form of CTE.\u201d<\/p>\n

While hundreds of former NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE, typically after loved ones donate the brains because of worrisome symptoms, most CTE cases are not publicly disclosed.<\/p>\n

Only a few cases reach public consciousness, usually when attached to a famous name, like Junior Seau, Ken Stabler and Frank Gifford, all inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (Seau shot himself in the chest to preserve his brain for testing.)<\/p>\n

Others become notorious because of criminal behavior that might later be explained, in part, by CTE, like Aaron Hernandez and Phillip Adams, who committed murder and were diagnosed with CTE after their own deaths. In July 2025, Shane Tamura, who played football but did not reach the NFL, killed four people in a New York City building that houses the league\u2019s headquarters. After Tamura\u2019s death, an autopsy confirmed that he had CTE.<\/p>\n

CTE cannot be diagnosed in the living, though some ex-football players, like Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett, presume they have it. Some players, like Chris Borland and John Urschel, walked away from their professional careers early as a preventive measure to protect their brains.<\/p>\n

The growing roster of CTE cases has done little to diminish football\u2019s popularity. The NFL reportedly earned more than $23 billion in revenue in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe N.F.L. continuously strives to make the game of football safer, including by implementing strategies to reduce concussions and head impacts,\u201d the league said in a statement. \u201cThe N.F.L. remains committed to ensuring that the N.F.L. community has access to a robust \u2014 and expanding \u2014 set of resources to enhance their physical and mental well being.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NFL Players Association, the union representing players, said the new study \u201cis a sobering reminder that football carries real risks, and those risks can have lasting consequences for players and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added: \u201cThe findings should serve as a call to action across the entire football ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to <\/em>SpeakingOfSuicide.com\/resources<\/em> for a list of additional resources.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Caltrans repaves Highway 17 in Santa Cruz Mountains<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the new study\u2019s statistics were applied to today\u2019s players \u2014 1,696 on the league\u2019s 32 regular-season rosters, not including more than 500 members of practice squads and those ineligible due to injury \u2014 at least 400 of them would be diagnosed with CTE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nStudy\u2019s alarming finding: At least 1 in 4 NFL players gets brain disease - Next City Digest<\/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:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7744\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Study\u2019s alarming finding: At least 1 in 4 NFL players gets brain disease - 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