[TSFH Fan]

Armour: Those closest to receiver Wes Welker need to save him from himself
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/20 ... topstories

Someone needs to save Wes Welker from himself.

The wide receiver with a lengthy and well-documented history of concussions either doesn’t care or is oblivious to the fact he might very well be killing himself by signing a one-year contract with the St. Louis Rams. That may sound alarmist, but it’s not.

We know Welker has had multiple concussions, including three in a nine-month span in 2013-14. We know there is a link between repeated head trauma – you know, the kind that can occur when massive human beings are running into each other at full speed, often using their helmeted heads as battering rams – and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

We know CTE can lead to depression, dementia and, in the very worst cases, suicide. We know that researchers found evidence of CTE in the brains of 87 out of 91 NFL players, a staggering 96 % “success” rate.

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Those figures alone ought to be enough to scare the hell out of Welker and anyone and everyone who cares about him. Then there is the bogeyman of what we don’t know. Scientists still can’t say how many concussions are too many. Or which hit will be the one that will trigger the downward spiral that led Junior Seau and Dave Duerson to put bullets in their bodies.

Or, with a history of concussions severe enough that he has missed games because of them, whether Welker has already damaged his brain so severely he’ll wind up as another of the NFL’s saddest and scariest statistics.

“He's in outstanding shape," St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher said Monday after the Rams had signed Welker.

And Fisher knows this how, exactly? Because the only way to know for sure if an NFL player has CTE - to see whether his brain has been traumatized so badly already that he will eventually become unrecognizable to those who know him best - is an autopsy.

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Of course Welker wants to play. This is the game he’s played since he was a kid and has loved for just as long. His talents on the football field have made him a rich man, with career earnings of a little over $40 million, according to NFL Players Association records.

And, as any former player will tell you, there’s a camaraderie in the locker room and on game days that can’t be duplicated anywhere else.

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Which is why someone else needs to step in. As Fisher’s simple-minded reaction shows, it won’t be anyone at the NFL. Much like with its approach to domestic violence, the league and its owners will talk earnestly about how much they care about their players’ healthy and safety – but only so long as it’s convenient and in the best interest of their record to do so.

No, it’s up to the people who actually care about Welker to open his eyes to the dangerous game he’s playing. His agent. His family. His friends. His former teammates.

Someone has to convince Welker that by playing again, he’s playing with his life.

Follow Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour

[Elvis]

It's interesting that we didn't allow Bud Sasser (heart problem) to play even though he wanted to and had some doctors who said he could.

Yet 10 concussion man Wes Welker is a go...

[Hacksaw]

Heart problems (fatal) for an unproven vs head injury and possible brain damage with aged but proven veteran.

A fine choice to have to make Ollie, but Sassers might have been less reward, more risk. Good luck Wes. Tighten up that chinstrap.

[Hacksaw]

That might be but man if he had a slice of his former self show up and could keep his head out of it. Let's hope the time off helped him heal, not that the former injuries have clouded his judgment.

[Elvis]

[bubbaramfan]

Its his body and he can play if he wants. I get the concussion thing, and if it were me with multiple concussions, I wouldn't play. But its still his call.

[BuiltRamTough]

Imo I think Welker can't play anymore. I've watched him a lot in Denever and he just doesn't seem to have the same speed and quickness as before but will see.