Dave Duerson’s son called Roger Goodell’s comments about the risks of football “an insult.”
During his state of the league press conference on Friday, Goodell downplayed the risks of head injury and CTE.
“There’s risk in life. There’s risk sitting on the couch,” Goodell said, via Bernie Augustine of the New York Daily News. “What we want to do is get people active. I want them to experience the game of football because the game of football will teach you the values … the discipline, the teamwork, the perseverance. Those are values and those are skills that will lead you through life, and I believe football is the best to teach that.”
Duerson, a four-time Pro Bowl safety, committed suicide in 2011. Study of his brain revealed that he suffered from CTE as a result of concussions suffered during his eleven NFL seasons. Duerson’s family is pursuing a wrongful death suit against the league.
Duerson’s son, Tregg, issued a statement through the family’s law firm.
“Comparing the CTE risk that NFL players face with an apparently inherent risk in sitting on the couch is an insult to the men affected by CTE,” the statement said, via the Daily News. “These men and their families deserve better. The Commissioner and the owners should be displaying empathy, not insensitively minimizing the severity of long-term brain damage.”
Duerson’s family also objected to how he was portrayed in the Concussion film.
Goodell’s comments are tone-deaf at best, especially with concussions up in the NFL and the revelation that newly-minted Hall of Famer Ken Stabler suffered from the disease.
