Former NFL receiver Antwaan Randle El regrets ever playing football

[DaKCMan AP]

Former NFL receiver Antwaan Randle El regrets ever playing football

Former Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antwaan Randle El is perhaps best remembered for his 43-yard touchdown pass in Super Bowl XL that aided a Pittsburgh win over Seattle, but a decade later, the physical and mental drawbacks have been so significant that he regrets ever playing in the NFL.

“If I could go back, I wouldn’t” play football, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a Steelers-themed project posted Tuesday. “I would play baseball. I got drafted by the Cubs in the 14th round, but I didn’t play baseball because of my parents. They made me go to school. Don’t get me wrong, I love the game of football. But right now, I could still be playing baseball.”

Randle El, who played in Washington from 2006 to 2009 between two stints in Pittsburgh, said he regularly experiences trouble walking down stairs — “I have to come down sideways sometimes, depending on the day” — and has serious memory lapses.

“I ask my wife things over and over again, and she’s like, ‘I just told you that,’ ” Randle El told the Post-Gazette. “I’ll ask her three times the night before and get up in the morning and forget. Stuff like that. I try to chalk it up as I’m busy, I’m doing a lot, but I have to be on my knees praying about it, asking God to allow me to not have these issues and live a long life. I want to see my kids raised up. I want to see my grandkids.”

In 2013, Randle El and three other former players filed a lawsuit against the NFL in a Manhattan federal court alleging the NFL “has done everything in its power to hide the issues and mislead players concerning the risks associated with concussions,” according to The Village Voice. In 2015, after that suit was consolidated with more than 2,000 others, he was one of more than 5,000 players that received more than $900 million in settlement money from the NFL to resolve a concussion lawsuit.

Since retiring in 2010, Randle El helped to found the Virginia Academy, a Christian high school in Ashburn, where he serves as the school’s athletic director. Originally, he was a proponent for the development of a football program at the school, but he has no remorse after it was cut two years in when it became too expensive.

“The kids are getting bigger and faster, so the concussions, the severe spinal cord injuries, are only going to get worse,” he said in the interview. “It’s a tough pill to swallow because I love the game of football. But I tell parents, ‘You can have the right helmet, the perfect pads on, and still end up with a paraplegic kid.’

“There’s no correcting it. There’s no helmet that’s going to correct it. There’s no teaching that’s going to correct it. It just comes down to it’s a physically violent game. Football players are in a car wreck every week.”

Randle El is not naive to the profitability of the sport or the impact it has on society, but with the concussion and life-long injury issues getting more attention than ever before, the nine-year veteran thinks the end may be near.

“Right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if football isn’t around in 20, 25 years.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ying-football/

[Chromatic]

Originally Posted by BigChiefTablet

I think it's an excellent point.

100% disagree but hey, this is america. You're allowed to be wrong.

brb heading to st. judes to tell the sick kids there that they're not allowed to feel upset because a bunch of children in africa starved to death yesterday so no bitching!

[Chromatic]

Originally Posted by loochy

so we can't whine about andy reid or the chiefs or axl smiff because browns?

When did I say that? I'm pretty sure I'm arguing for the opposite of that.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Chromatic

100% disagree but hey, this is america. You're allowed to be wrong.

brb heading to st. judes to tell the sick kids there that they're not allowed to feel upset because a bunch of children in africa starved to death yesterday so no bitching!

but did the sick kids knowingly make themselves sick in the pursuit of millions of dollars?

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Chromatic

When did I say that? I'm pretty sure I'm arguing for the opposite of that.

im just throwing stuff

[Beef Supreme]

95% of the world or more have it worse than this guy. Oh, woe is me. I forget to do shit and have to ask my wife. Welcome to the human race.

[Chromatic]

Originally Posted by loochy

but did the sick kids knowingly make themselves sick in the pursuit of millions of dollars?

Dude was drafted in 2002. The concussion stuff, CTE, dementia, memory loss and all that wasn't even a thing that was known by most of society yet.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Chromatic

Dude was drafted in 2002. The concussion stuff, CTE, dementia, memory loss and all that wasn't even a thing that was known by most of society yet.

yes, people knew that getting hit in the head over and over messes you up

people have known that for a LONG time

[CoMoChief]

I dont feel sorry for them at all.

[headsnap]

Regrets, everyone has them...

[KCUnited]

Smoking cigarettes is linked to cancer.
This pill is linked to [insert list of specific side effects].
Playing football may "cause some problems".

I don't feel sorry for anyone, but there's nothing wrong with continuing research to let people know as much as possible about what they may be getting into.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by loochy

yes, people knew that getting hit in the head over and over messes you up

people have known that for a LONG time

I don't think that people knew to what extent is damages the brain.

There's a big difference between guys that played from the 1920 to the late 1980's. The speed, strength and mass were completely different than from around 1990-to present due to nutrition, training, performance enhancing drugs and salaries.

Salaries play the biggest role because guys are no longer required to sell insurance or work on the farm or any other financially motivated work because their earning cover them for a year (or more).

I don't think that Randle-El is "whining". I think he's stating that with the full information (which the NFL withheld), he likely would have chosen baseball over football.

That's going to be a trend in coming years unless the NFL and NCAA don't make further changes to the game. It's going to become like boxing, which used to be America's favorite sport in which Heavyweight Championship Fights aired regularly on Network TV, to becoming a "fringe" sport.

Some see the writing on the wall, some don't. But when Super Bowl winning players are saying "I wish I hadn't played", that's a big problem for the sport.

[FloridaMan88]

I'll bet the Washington Redskins wished he didn't play football either after wasting a big free agent contract on him.

Randle El probably currently has financial issues, and since he already went to the concussion gravy train once (with the concussion settlement), he is now looking for more sympathy money.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I don't think that people knew to what extent is damages the brain.

There's a big difference between guys that played from the 1920 to the late 1980's. The speed, strength and mass were completely different than from around 1990-to present due to nutrition, training, performance enhancing drugs and salaries.

Salaries play the biggest role because guys are no longer required to sell insurance or work on the farm or any other financially motivated work because their earning cover them for a year (or more).

I don't think that Randle-El is "whining". I think he's stating that with the full information (which the NFL withheld), he likely would have chosen baseball over football.

That's going to be a trend in coming years unless the NFL and NCAA don't make further changes to the game. It's going to become like boxing, which used to be America's favorite sport in which Heavyweight Championship Fights aired regularly on Network TV, to becoming a "fringe" sport.

Some see the writing on the wall, some don't. But when Super Bowl winning players are saying "I wish I hadn't played", that's a big problem for the sport.

Ok, fair enough.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Smoking cigarettes is linked to cancer.
This pill is linked to [insert list of specific side effects].
Playing football may "cause some problems".

I don't feel sorry for anyone, but there's nothing wrong with continuing research to let people know as much as possible about what they may be getting into.

Oh, absolutely not.

[Skyy God]

As always, the "rub some dirt on it, you pussies" contingent of CP is coming in hot.