As far as Boomer Esiason is concerned, there is no escaping chronic traumatic encephalopathy — better known as CTE — if you choose to play in the National Football League.
While discussing the ever-growing issues of brain disease and head trauma on his WFAN radio show Monday, Esiason said he believes scientists would find signs of CTE in his brain if he donated it to research.
“If I died tomorrow and my brain basically was taken and researched and I was found to have CTE, which most likely I have,” the former NFL quarterback said, as transcribed by Des Bieler of the Washington Post.
Esiason’s co-host, Craig Carton, asked Boomer to elaborate on why he thinks he has CTE.
“Because I think all football players probably have it,” Easiason said.
The findings of a study that was published last month certainly seem to support Esiason’s theory, as researchers determined that 110 out of 111 deceased NFL players showed signs of CTE after death. The disease cannot be diagnosed in living people at the moment, but Esiason says he hopes that will be possible within the next few years.
Esiason later said he believes athletes from a number of sports, including soccer, who suffered brain injuries would show signs of CTE.
“You’ve had a head injury, you’ve had a number of concussions yourself, you might have had a car wreck, where you hit your head or something like that — I wouldn’t be surprised if you had it, as well,” he told Carton.
The more that is learned about CTE, the more you have people like this new Hall of Famer expressing concern over the dangers of playing football. Those concerns are certainly warranted.
