Calvin Johnson: Playing through concussions is part of NFL life
If Tom Brady played through a brain injury last season like his wife, Giselle Bundchen, suggested, he wouldn’t be the first NFL player to do so.
In fact, former Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson said that’s a regular practice in the NFL
“Guys get concussions, they don’t tell the coaches,” Johnson said after his “Catching Dreams” football camp Saturday. “It happens. I don’t tell the coach sometimes cause I know I got a job to do. The team needs me out there on the field. And sometimes you allow that to jeopardize yourself, but that’s just the nature of the world.”
Bundchen said in an interview on “CBS This Morning” last week that Brady, the New England Patriots quarterback, “had a concussion last year” even though he was never listed with such an injury.
Johnson, who retired last spring after nine NFL seasons, never was officially diagnosed with a concussion in his career but told ESPN’s “E:60” last year he suffered his “fair share” of brain injuries while playing.
Asked Saturday whether he ever concealed one from team doctors, Johnson said, “Of course.”
“They’re going to dispute that, but anytime you black out, anytime you hit the ground and everything is stars and stuff, any time your brain hits your skull, that’s a concussion,” Johnson said. “No matter how severe it is, it’s a concussion. Now granted, some people get nausea. That’s a severe concussion when you get hit like that and you get nausea and stuff like that. But if you play football long enough (you’re going to have concussions).”
Lions president Rod Wood said last week the NFL is trying to be diligent about identifying and treating brain injuries, but he said players need “to be willing to say something doesn’t feel right.
“That’s something we try and educate them on and it’s something they’re going to have to take part in,” Wood said. “I think a lot of the players have said that, that we need to be honest and say something’s going on.”
At his football camp, Johnson dedicated one period to educating players about the risks of concussions. He said that was done both for insurance purposes and to inform players of the risks they face.
“Each year, you’ve got to talk about it more and more, you’ve got to have programs,” Johnson said. “You’re doing these camps, you’ve got to talk about concussion awareness. But the biggest thing I told them, concussions, they happen in football, it’s part of football. The biggest thing is rest. If you feel like you’ve got a concussion, if you don’t know, if you take the test whatever, if you feel like you’ve got a concussion, the biggest thing is rest, man. Cause you usually compound your injury so much if you go back out there, and we all know that now.”
Though he never reported concussion-like symptoms as a player, Johnson said he doesn’t regret that decision now.
“I don’t regret how I played the game,” he said. “That’s why I was comfortable leaving.“