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/

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Yeah, back then it was a joke to get a concussion. People would laugh if someone "got their bell rung". I don't think anyone thought of a concussion as something more than a short-term inconvenience. It's kind of incredible to think about that now, but then again, we still have boxing as a sport in 2016 so maybe we haven't evolved that far.

The difference being that boxing has evolved, too. Shorter bouts, better refereeing which has led to many more stoppages, better trainers, better doctors. But with that and the rise in value of NFL contracts, boxing has seen a steady but steep decline from its heyday of the 70's.

Now, UFC, which is three rounds, has taken over the public's fascination despite the lessor padded gloves and people claim it's safer than boxing due to the short fights.

Time will tell.

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by theelusiveeightrop

Front page even

Ha...your post should have been said by this cartoon character....

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by Chromatic

I imagine he's doing that because he has to and can't afford to retire. If not, 99% of the people in his position are doing it out of necessity than out of pure work ethic.

Also, pointing out something else and saying "bu-but this guy over here is worse!" doesn't really cut it. Brain damage and CTE is a very real thing among people who have played football and when they're finding CTE among dead high school players, you know it's a problem that should be studied further.

Wow dead highschoolers? Were these kids not using helmets and their heads as weapons.

i have a feeling before long youll find this in every sport. Hell probably a lot in people who never played.

I am shocked 90% of the former nfl players from the past havent died from it yet from the way people explain it.


any intelligent person should know using your head as a weapon can cause brain problems.

[brucey_72]

I will never let my son play football, it is not worth it. I love football but regret it.

This is my story which I have told here before, I will make it brief. In High School I thought I was invincible, young and had dreams of playing college ball. I was a pass rusher and ended up getting a few concussions. My doctor told me I need to quit because once you get concussions, they will become frequent even without hard contact,especially if not healed fully. I did not listen and went back out a week later, I then got a concussion during a walk through with little contact.
I then went on to play college rugby, against my family and doctors will. I ended up getting a concussion while playing that resulted in swelling and bleeding of the brain.

Now I am 24, is married with 2 daughters. I now live with body shakes, mini seizures, memory loss, and get to look forward to being in a wheelchair by the time I'm 50, and I lose a lot of body functions including my memory by the time I'm 50, which my doctor says is a certainty unless medical research can find ways to help people like me. Which all could have been avoided by listening to the doctor.

Luckily for me, now I just live life like it is my last day with my family. Because any day could be my last day capable of living a normal life.

Trust me, football is not worth it.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

I should go take a video of the old guy who owns our local feed store. He's probably outside shoveling snow or something right now. He looks like a gold mine collapsed on him and still works every day. Guy can't stand halfway straight up, looks like the letter r and still works in his 70s.

Most of the NFL players bitching about how terrible they had it, are doing so from a golf course somewhere warm, living in nice homes, and are basically retired by age 40.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by brucey_72

I will never let my son play football, it is not worth it. I love football but regret it.

This is my story which I have told here before, I will make it brief. In High School I thought I was invincible, young and had dreams of playing college ball. I was a pass rusher and ended up getting a few concussions. My doctor told me I need to quit because once you get concussions, they will become frequent even without hard contact,especially if not healed fully. I did not listen and went back out a week later, I then got a concussion during a walk through with little contact. I continued to play.
I then went on to play college rugby, against my family and doctors will. I ended up getting a concussion while playing that resulted in swelling and bleeding of the brain.

Now I am 24, is married with 2 daughters. I now live with body shakes, mini seizures, memory loss, and get to look forward to being in a wheelchair by the time I'm 50, and I lose a lot of body functions including my memory by the time I'm 50, which my doctor says is a certainty unless medical research can find ways to help people like me. Which all could have been avoided by listening to the doctor.

Luckily for me, now I just live life like it is my last day with my family. Because any day could be my last day capable of living a normal life.

Trust me, football is not worth it.

Damn, dude. That's horrible.

Sorry to hear it.

[Iowanian]

Originally Posted by Cave Johnson

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

As usual the attorney is chasing the ambulance like a dog looking for someone holding his neck.

[ClevelandBronco]

Originally Posted by brucey_72

I will never let my son play football, it is not worth it. I love football but regret it.

This is my story which I have told here before, I will make it brief. In High School I thought I was invincible, young and had dreams of playing college ball. I was a pass rusher and ended up getting a few concussions. My doctor told me I need to quit because once you get concussions, they will become frequent even without hard contact,especially if not healed fully. I did not listen and went back out a week later, I then got a concussion during a walk through with little contact. I continued to play.
I then went on to play college rugby, against my family and doctors will. I ended up getting a concussion while playing that resulted in swelling and bleeding of the brain.

Now I am 24, is married with 2 daughters. I now live with body shakes, mini seizures, memory loss, and get to look forward to being in a wheelchair by the time I'm 50, and I lose a lot of body functions including my memory by the time I'm 50, which my doctor says is a certainty unless medical research can find ways to help people like me. Which all could have been avoided by listening to the doctor.

Luckily for me, now I just live life like it is my last day with my family. Because any day could be my last day capable of living a normal life.

Trust me, football is not worth it.

It's stuff like this that makes me question whether I should even be watching this goddamn game. God bless you, sir.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Maybe they're just not marketing well enough.


I can see Randle El's point. If you can play both football and baseball, the smart move is to play baseball if you can handle the boredom. You'll play longer, make more money, and you're unlikely to ever suffer a significant injury. Football is far more fun and entertaining, but I too wonder if it'll exist in 25 years, at least in its current form.

Originally Posted by Chromatic

It absolutely won't. I'm seeing more and more people saying they won't let their kids play football than ever before. The people I hear saying that seems to double every year.

They'll have to change since the participation and talent pool is already starting to decline.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/...-causal-factor

So, we're looking at the very serious possibility that the Chiefs never ever win a second Super Bowl.

[underEJ]

I frequently question my watching football. I remember big hits like the first hit Greg Wesley ever made in arrowhead that you could probably have heard all the way out on the highway if anyone was still in line for the parking lots. Nasty hit, and we all cheered and laughed. Over time, my appreciation of that type of hit has declined, and by the time Trent Green was laid out on the field by Gaethers, dirty hit argument aside, my already fading enjoyment of big hits dropped cold to zero.

I still enjoy the game and enjoy great plays of skill and athleticism, but I cringe at several hits every game. I am likely not alone in this. Will it make me walk away? I don't know yet, but I think about it, and I would not be considered just a casual fan.

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

Why doesn't Christine's concern for concussions/CTE transfer from the NFL to women's soccer? Again women's soccer has a higher rate of concussions than football and also a higher rate of more severe concussions as well.

Where is Christine's outrage about concussions and women's soccer?

I think the outrage is coming. I understand that kids soccer is moving towards not allowing heading until a certain age.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by TimBone

So, we're looking at the very serious possibility that the Chiefs never ever win a second Super Bowl.

I've pretty much accepted that anyway.

[007]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

The $2 billion dollar per year deal with ESPN won't go away because people will just use the app on their mobile device, Blu Ray player, Roku, Fire, etc.

And the major contracts with the networks are OTA's, so those won't go anywhere, ever.

keep in mind, the ESPN app is worthless if you don't have a cable subscription. I sure can't use it.

[Smed1065]

No, I did not read the thread.

I know I would have a different tune if I had made a many dollars and couldn't play anymore versus 21 and broke.

That is life, no?

[Jimmya]

Football will never go away, the SEC had a revenue of over 300 million for the college football playoffs! Wow..... People love the game and love their teams!