DeAndre Levy played eight seasons for the Detroit Lions before being released in March. Now the former linebacker is speaking out against CTE, and he claims the Lions tried to stop him from doing so when he was a player. He testified as much in front of a congressional subcommittee on brain injuries in football.
“The moment I said anything about it, I had two calls telling me I shouldn’t talk about it,” Levy said, via MLive.com. “I don’t know if it was because it was CTE, or if it was because it’s just the general NFL rule of, like, only football. Only talk about football, only think about football. I posted simply the research…and I was told not to talk about it the first day it was out. And I’m just, like, you know, it could have just been locker room culture. Nobody wants to talk about anything other than football. But it didn’t sit well with me when I’m talking about brain injuries.”
Levy criticized Lions ownership for failing to properly educate the players about the risks of brain injuries.
“I don’t think the owners are in touch with it,” Levy said. “It’s a business. We’re a number. Our brains and bodies are disposable. I can’t speak for every team — I’ve only been with one team — but, I mean, I never sat down and talked with the owner. So there’s no connection [with] the players. Right now, we’re the only ones that will even care about the issue.”
The Lions have responded with a statement via ProFootballTalk: “We are aware of his comments, and we strongly disagree with his claim that anyone from our organization tried to silence him.”
