by It’s the worst fear of any parent whose child plays football.
This happens every year in various communities across the country, to high school players. This week, Alabama A&M’s Medrick Burnett Jr. died from a head injury he suffered on the field last month.
Burnett, a redshirt freshman from Lakewood, Calif., was injured Oct. 26 in a game against Alabama State.
Via Associated Press, Burnett died Wednesday evening. He was 20 years old.
And the life of football goes on, as it always seems to do. Few will decide to stop playing when they learn of Burnett’s death. Most will reconcile things by saying, as Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa did last month, “There’s just risk in everything and I’m willing to play with the odds.”
The NFL hasn’t had an in-game death since 1971, when Lions wide receiver Chuck Hughes died of pre-existing heart disease. In July 2009, then-Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer predicted that a player would inevitably die during an NFL game.
“The truth is… someone is going to die here in the NFL,” Palmer said at the time. “It’s going to happen. “
It almost happened in early 2023, when a routine coup was triggered commotio cordis for Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
If/when this happens, what will happen to the NFL? Given that the death of Medrick Burnett Jr. has been received more as an afterthought and less as the major story it should be, those who play football at all levels will likely be inclined to shrug their shoulders, consider the situation as a chance and continue.
This doesn’t mean anyone should quit. Everyone has the right to engage in a wide range of risky behaviors. Many take much greater risks than football players, for much less money. (Hell, some pay good money to rush in the face of serious injury or death.)
The fact is, when this happens, there seems to be little or no introspection or reevaluation. As Joe Burrow said after Tua’s serious concussion in late September 2022 against the Bengals: “It’s part of what we signed up for.” You’re going to have head injuries. You’re going to tear your ACL. You’ll break your arm. the game we play is the life we live and we get paid handsomely for it, I think every game, we know what we’re getting into“.
More than a decade ago, once the risks of brain damage became clear and obvious, many thought football would wither and die. Some in the media actually seemed supportive of this happening, twisting to tie each retirement to concerns about concussions.
And here we are. At the end of 2024, the game is stronger than ever. People who play it accept the risks. Even if accepting those risks means pretending not to notice when the risks materialize for someone else, in the worst possible way.
