Part 9/11:
If fewer elite athletes are willing to risk brain injury playing football, the quality of NFL play is bound to suffer. Moreover, the potential solutions—like banning contact or heavily modifying the game—pose their own problems.
Can Safety Be Made Safer?
The idea of making football safer is logical but practically challenging. The physical collisions that make football exciting also make it dangerous. Protective gear like "astronaut helmets" may look ridiculous, but they cannot prevent the impact of a 250-pound linebacker moving at a 4.5-second 40-yard dash. As long as pure physical contact remains central, reducing injuries significantly appears nearly impossible.