Former GB and super bowl champion CB Sam Shields now says he regrets NFL career

[Big Turk]

He looks terrible to be honest...like one of the drug addicts you'd see on the corner in a bad neighborhood. Looks like he's 50 and he is only 34.

 

Said his head feels like mush and concussions had a lot to do with it, and that he would not do it all over again if he had the chance...

 

Wonder how many players playing now are going to be in the same boat? This can't be good for the NFL and it's long term participation rates.

 

More content parents are going to read and add to the reasons why little Jimmy will be playing soccer instead of football.

 

https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/11/03/former-packers-db-sam-shields-says-he-regrets-nfl-career

Edited November 3, 2022 by Big Turk

[iccrewman112]

I can’t find the stat, but high school football participation has been down year over year for many years running now.

[iccrewman112]

here are some participation stats from 18-19 school year. Pre-COvID.
 

But the NFHS numbers on boys in 11-player tackle football show some trends that football’s supporters shouldn’t ignore:

 

Participation is at its lowest level since 1999-2000 (1,002,734).

 

At this rate, participation could fall below 1 million next year. 1998-99 (983,625) was the last year that happened.

 

About 22% of boys in high school sports participation in 11-player tackle football. In the 1998-2000 period I reference in the first two items, that participation rate was more than 26% — meaning where once one in four boys played, now we’re moving toward one in five.

 

The average number of boys per school in 11-player football in 2018-19 was 70.6. At the sport’s participation peak in 2008-09, that average was 79. (That includes all levels — varsity, junior varsity and freshman.)

Edited November 3, 2022 by iccrewman112

[streetkings01]

5 minutes ago, iccrewman112 said:

I can’t find the stat, but high school football participation has been down year over year for many years running now.

Probably goes even further than. Our local team couldn’t field a mighty mite(6-7 years old) or a D2(12-14 years old) program because not enough kids or parents are interested. I coach travel flag football…….it’s neck and neck with tackle right now.

[iccrewman112]

Just now, streetkings01 said:

Probably goes even further than. Our local team couldn’t field a mighty mite(6-7 years old) or a D2(12-14 years old) program because not enough kids or parents are interested. I coach travel flag football…….it’s neck and neck with tackle right now.

yep. There’s a reason those NBA teams are selling for outrageous amounts of money. Basketball is playing the long game.

[US Egg]

American 🏈, unlike 🏀⚾️🏒will recede in the talent pool.

 

Maybe not in my lifetime, but 20 years from now, definitely.

[Big Turk]

3 minutes ago, streetkings01 said:

Probably goes even further than. Our local team couldn’t field a mighty mite(6-7 years old) or a D2(12-14 years old) program because not enough kids or parents are interested. I coach travel flag football…….it’s neck and neck with tackle right now.

 

Hmm...maybe that is a compromise?  Flag football until High school?

[TheBrownBear]

It's a crappy phone video taken in his car.  A bit of an exaggeration to say he looks like a 50 year old meth head.  Also, we don't know his entire story (does he have other negative things going on in his life/health, irrespective of the concussion issue?).  Only what he's willing to tell us. 

 

I do agree though with the basic premise.  Football is a brutal sport that has a very high risk of taking a serious toll on the body and mind.  As for those who pooh-pooh this stuff and say "these guys are grown men who understand the risk they're taking", keep in mind that these young men are shepherded into the sport from a young age by parents and family, and then once they show promise, are strongly encouraged to continue by family/schools/coaches/agents/friends who are hoping to profit off of them.  They are essentially trained from a young age to have zero life/career outside of football.  Then throw in the fact that these guys are really young and not mentally mature enough to make wise decisions when it comes to their longterm health when the health risks really ramp up (college and draft), and you have a recipe for future disaster and regret.

[Don Otreply]

Well, if one looks at American football objectively, one quickly realizes this is a modern day gladiator sport, players purposefully hit each other hard enough to injure each other on every play,  a high percentage of players have life long health issues due to playing the game, the money made does little if one can not enjoy its fruit. It is a brutal game, and the fans revel in the big hits, and care little how much damage is done to the players, at most it’s a thoughts and prayers deal, in other words, oh well….  It’s no wonder a player would have such thoughts in hind sight. 

[US Egg]

1 minute ago, Don Otreply said:

Well, if one looks at American football objectively, one quickly realizes this is a modern day gladiator sport, players purposefully hit each other hard enough to injure each other on every play

Enjoy it while it lasts.

[Beast]

High school players have been getting killed every year for decades.

 

Pro, college and high school players paralyzed as well.

 

Terrible injuries. Legs snapped in half. 
 

People have been wondering about the future of the sport for as long back as I can remember.

 

Yet, here we are.

 

Football is king.

 

 

[Beck Water]

Sam Shields Players Tribune article

 

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/sam-shields-rams

 

In that article (during a year when he was out of football and it was unclear he'd come back) he describes his mama as coming instantly to his side, with a middle-of-the-night phone call.

 

Quote

Now it was 3 a.m., and I was curled up in a ball, sobbing uncontrollably.

I needed help. I needed medicine. I needed God.

I needed my mama.

It’s funny. It doesn’t matter who you are or how old you get. Even when you’re a grown-ass man and you got money and you got your own kids and ***** …

Sometimes, you just need your mama.

She lived right down the street, so I called her up, and I remember just moaning into the phone.

“Ohhh, ***** … make it stop … ahhhh, please help me … please come, Mama!”

“I’m on my way, baby.”

That’s all she said.

 

Normally when a guy goes from having family who will throw on their clothes and rush to his side in the middle of the night, to writing about:

Quote

“When you’re done with football, everybody forgets about you,” Shields said, per Audacy’s Jesse Pantuosco. “Family, friends. I got one friend. In football, I had 10. Now I got one where I know that that’s my friend. That I could really say, ‘You’re my friend.’ I don’t even talk to most of my family members. Once football was over, everybody was over with me.”

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, maybe having football be over is not the reason they're over with him.  That's not to say that post-concussion behavior changes weren't at the root of it, but sometimes they also drive behavior that drives people away - outbursts of anger, addictions, etc - and one wonders if he's gotten help the 2nd time as he described he did the first.

 

Frankly, after months like he describes in his Players Tribune article and extensive brain training to "get normal", he really shouldn't have come back in 2018.  "Know When to Say When".

Edited November 3, 2022 by Beck Water

[Buftex]

1 minute ago, Beast said:

High school players have been getting killed every year for decades.

 

Pro, college and high school players paralyzed as well.

 

Terrible injuries. Legs snapped in half. 
 

People have been wondering about the future of the sport for as long back as I can remember.

 

Yet, here we are.

 

Football is king.

 

 

You are right...football is king.  But the stats posted in this thread show, it likely won't be forever.  The game may not be any more dangerous now, but it is clear, that fewer people are participating in it. 

[MiltonWaddams]

The impact that concussions have on people cannot be understated or understood by people who haven't experienced them. I understand what he means when he says his brain felt "mushed together" and that he was whipping his body back and forth trying to shake the pain out. I have had 5 documented concussions and have had that same experience. I have long understood why Junior Seau took his own life because living with that on a daily basis would not be possible. I haven't had symptoms for a decade, but I do fear that returning later in my life.

[Malazan]

An extremely high percentage of players would do it all over again if you offered them the chance today even knowing what they know. Money is a powerful drug. 

 

Yes, youth football is declining, but I think the health issues are just one part of the puzzle. Twenty years ago the terms 'esports' wasn't a real thing. There's many other draws on a young person's attention now and the social status aspect of Football is no longer what it once was.. 

 

I believe there are other things that will 'kill' football before the concern over post-career health does..

Edited November 3, 2022 by Malazan

[Buftex]

13 minutes ago, iccrewman112 said:

yep. There’s a reason those NBA teams are selling for outrageous amounts of money. Basketball is playing the long game.

Correct. While it isn't very popular with most NFL internet message board fans, the NBA is as popular is more popular than ever, with the demographic that would traditionally participate in NFL football.  

[Beast]

2 minutes ago, Buftex said:

You are right...football is king.  But the stats posted in this thread show, it likely won't be forever.  The game may not be any more dangerous now, but it is clear, that fewer people are participating in it. 

It will be. For a long, long time.

 

 

[Buftex]

Just now, Beast said:

It will be. For a long, long time.

 

 

Believe me, I love the NFL as much as anyone...but don't you think the fewer people willing to participate in the sport will erode its' popularity over time? We already claim that the sport is "wussified" compared to the sport most of us grew up with. I already see the lack of interest in the game amongst the younger kids in my own family.  I have a large family. We've always been football fanatics.  But the younger kids seem to have little interest in it.  One of my nephews (he's 12), who I have been plying with Bills gear for about 10 years, broke my heart recently, when he chose to go to a pro soccer game, over a chance to go to a Bills game. He also seems to prefer hockey to football... while I loved all sports growing up, by the time I was 12, football was it!  His friends seem all the same.  Their only appreciation for football seems linked to their parents. 

[SirAndrew]

21 minutes ago, Beast said:

High school players have been getting killed every year for decades.

 

Pro, college and high school players paralyzed as well.

 

Terrible injuries. Legs snapped in half. 
 

People have been wondering about the future of the sport for as long back as I can remember.

 

Yet, here we are.

 

Football is king.

 

 

It isn’t going to scare away anyone in Texas or Florida, and that’s where the talent is at this point anyway. Declining participation in northeast suburbs isn’t going to hurt the game. 

[WyoAZBillfan]

For the love of a game. I feel for those fellas, but if I had the ability and the skills. I’d be playing a game and the amount of money they are paid is a bonus. Most careers have their dangers and pitfalls, those guys got an opportunity to do something they loved. 
understandable the quality of life after isn’t the best, just the risks taken I suppose.