Football is a brutal sport. Guys deserve every penny they can get. Never begrudge a player the right to get every dime he can. He’s paying with his life and body.
And then Chris Henry died, and now there’s evidence that blows up all three of those assumptions. And that is just about the worst news possible for the sport of football.
In fact, not only does Henry satisfy none of those three conditions, he doesn’t even come close. Down the line:
It is a result of concussions, especially multiple concussions: If Henry ever suffered a concussion, it was news to his teams; Henry never missed a game to head injury during his career at West Virginia or Cincinnati.
It happens to people with long, contact-filled careers Chris Henry spent four years at West Virginia, then five in the NFL. But even those numbers are both somewhat inflated; Henry redshirted one of those four years at WVU, declaring for the draft after his junior year. Once in the NFL, Henry was suspended for half a year due to arrests–some of which included erratic, violent behavior. So of those nine seasons after high school, Henry was actually playing for just 7 and a half.
Further, Henry played wide receiver, one of the least contact-intensive positions in sport. Yes, Colin Sandeman can surely attest to how violent the worst hits can be for wideouts. But the repetitious, incessant helmet contact that we’ve been led to believe (and not unfairly) causes CTE and that linemen, linebackers, and safeties face just isn’t there.
Its onset happens later in life Henry died at 26. And not only did he exhibit classic signs of CTE, his brain was already in advanced stages of decay:
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
