football or decide not to do this. orror that. i think the thing that i can convey to youth and to parents is just to make an informed decision. if you weigh the risks and you decide this is something you want to partake in it s a free country. however, i just if i can relay a message to kids to their parents it would be two-fold. one, make an informed decision and two, don t play through concussions. make an informed decision. look at the facts, the facts are right now that three in ten former players will develop a debilitating brain condition, twice the right of the general population. account nfl handle it if all of these players start making informed decisions? i m not certain the nfl can handle it. i think it s a watershed moment for the nfl. i think it will have reverb rations, not only through the league but among the horde of guys coming into the league. i think they ll do an assessment. i think they ve looked at this individual and they re going to have a similar reacti
never been safer and it makes the points about all the changes that football has made over the last season. the fact that they put out the statement shows you how concerned the league is. i think it s very serious. when you look at it we have a new generation of football player right now. these guys grew up in the dave dorsen or andre waters or junior seay. watching these guys. and it s more astute professional athlete that knows there s opportunities outside of football. when they look at the risks versus reward it becomes a situation where you re negotiating with your health you can make that decision. i think when the nfl lawsuit was filed, think that they got under a lot of players skin, was we did not know. the difference is that the players now are informed and have the numbers in front of them to make informed decisions. let s listen to more about why chris borland said he made this decision. he s not saying he claims i doesn t want people to play football. so listen. i d
$60 million or $120 million contracts in front of players, their risk/reward decision may be completely different from chris s decision. it s a trickle-down effect from collegiate athletes to pop warner football. we look forward to making sure these guys find themselves outside of football while their helmet is off. these guys can play five or six years and still have substantial amount of money to say hey the risk may be worth playing five or six years, cashing in on 20 $25 million and setting up my family for the rest of my life. we don t know if he walked away from $25 million. but he certainly walked away from his next year s salary. it s a lot of money to turn your back on. if you have someone willing to forfeit those kind of fortune fortunes it s significant and the nfl will notice. the nfl is not in danger of going out of existence, but i think it will have a deep impact. football in a way is
threatened i have two 8-year-old boys can you look at me and say, that i should allow my 8-year-old boys to play football they won t be at any serious risk? not at all. i can t make that claim, neither can lamar or the national football league. the way i look at it we all have to have skin in the game. the players biggest concern in the lawsuit is we didn t know. parents, you know the nfl, the nfl p.a. we know. and now of course the kids know as well too, we all have to have skin in the game. you have to make an informed decision based on what you know and information you have in front of you. for myself i have a 7-year-old son, i m not in any rush to push him on the football field, i didn t play football until my freshman year of high school dlxt was no rush for me to get on the football field if you re good enough they ll find you, let s give our kids a chance cognitively to develop a little bit more. i have a feeling that chris borland will be part of the conversation going f