Look up the details of Chris Henry’s autopsy, and then remember that he never missed a single game in the pros or college due to head injury. There’s a reason the league and PA are freaking out about injuries, the data is saying these guys are literally killing themselves playing the game. With the data we have now a conscientious parent wouldn’t let their kid play the game, and if kids aren’t playing the game then you don’t get the next generation of adults to play the game. Yes there is a certain minimum level of violence in the game, but they have to mitigate the risk, they’ve got to keep it a game that mom’s will let their kids play, or it ends.
There’s more and more evidence that subsequent brain damage comes not from one or two catastrophic hits but the constant moderately light pops that are an inherent part of the NFL and in an age where players are so big and fast that’s bad news. Whether they like it or not, football is becoming like boxing...something middle class parents will not encourage their kids to take part in and people will only do because they have to.