Former NFL Linebacker: 'Take Helmets Off' to End Concussions

Dhani Jones says he took about 100 helmet-to-helmet hits during his NFL career. In an op-ed, he urges dramatic changes in football and calls on players to stop approaching the game as if wearing helmets makes them indestructible. (Photo via Facebook)

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Here’s something you don’t hear every day:

Football players should take off their protective helmets to reduce debilitating and deadly concussions.

What’s that again?

Former NFL linebacker Dhani Jones, writing in an op-ed published by The Washington Post, says removing the hard-shelled helmets would force players to re-learn the game, and play with their hands and shoulders instead of blocking with their heads.

Jones, who played football in Potomac, MD, and the University of Michigan Wolverinesbefore beginning his professional career, said he hit his head about 100 times in helmet-to-helmet collisions during 11 seasons as a linebacker for the New York Giants,Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals.

Jones admitted he thrives on intensity and physicality, he said he couldn’t overlook studies showing high-impact hits cause concussions resulting in lifelong health complications for some players and forcing others into early retirement.

One of the most high profile exits was Chris Borland’s decision last month to leave the San Francisco 49ers one year into what was a promising career. He said he wasn’t willing to risk debilitating head injuries.

“I just honestly want to do what’s best for my health,” Borland told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” program. “From what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think it’s worth the risk.”

Tell Us:

• Should adjustments be made to reduce life-altering football injuries?

In his op-ed, Jones said other measures to control helmet-to-helmet collisions have failed.

“We need to take the hard-shell helmets off,” he wrote. “We could replace them with throwback leather helmets, which everyone understands provide limited protection. But we need to eliminate the idea that I’m in a cage, you’re in a cage, and we can go at each other because we’re indestructible.”

Former Detroit Lions Pro Football Hall of Famer Lem Barney warned two years agofootball has become so “deadly” that it’s only a manner of time before society stops supporting it without serious adjustments to improve player safety.

Also on Patch:

• High School Sacks Football Season Because of Injuries

The debate over concussions isn’t limited to the NFL. Last fall, a Michigan football teamsacked its season early because of concussions and other injuries. Caro Schools Superintendent Mike Joslyn told The New York Times that student safety drove the decision to end the season early.

“These kids have long lives ahead of them,” he said, “and we need to keep the brains in their heads intact.”

At least eight high school players died of injuries directly related to football in 2013, USA Today said, citing statistics from the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina. In the 2014 season, at least five high school players died of causes directly related to the sport.