‘You have the money’: Kelly Stafford calls out the NFL for not making change for safety

Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn ImagesThe connection between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy has emerged as one of the largest health concerns for current and former NFL players. A new study published Wednesday estimated that 75 percent of former NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had CTE, the neurodegenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts.The research, which was published in JAMA Network Open by researchers at Boston University, Mass General Brigham, and the Concussion & CTE Foundation, is extremely concerning, and the wife of the NFL’s reigning MVP, Matthew Stafford, is speaking out about the NFL not doing enough to protect its players.“GET RID OF TURF. PLEASE. / Will it fix everything? No. Will it eliminate injuries? Absolutely not. But my goodness, wouldn’t it be a step in the right direction?” Kelly Stafford posted on her Instagram stories.“You want your ‘stars’ to last in this league? The guys who bring in the viewers, fill the stadiums, sell the jerseys, and make this league billions? Then why aren’t we doing EVERYTHING we can to protect them? / We know there are serious concerns about turf and the injuries that come with playing on it. Knees, ankles, ligaments… you name it. / But what really gets me is the HEAD,” the story continued.Stafford added that she understands the risks, but that the league should still be doing everything possible to protect its athletes.“Listen, I know what sport my husband plays. I know what these men signed up for. Football is physical. It’s violent. Heads are going to collide. Bodies are going to hit the ground. That part of the game isn’t going away…“But here’s the thing… / We can’t always control what these players hit. But we sure as hell can control what they land on. / And if there’s a chance that changing the surface beneath them could reduce even ONE serious injury, shouldn’t we be doing everything possible to make that happen?”Stafford wrapped things up by calling on the NFL to set the standard and protect not only the current players, but the children who dream of playing in the league in the future.“Because this isn’t just about the NFL. It’s about the kids watching. The kids dreaming of playing on Sundays. The colleges, the high schools, the youth leagues that look to the NFL to set the standard. / So SET IT,” Stafford wrote.“You have the money. You have the resources. You have the ability to lead the way. / No, grass isn’t going to solve every problem. But doing nothing because we can’t fix everything? That’s not good enough. @nfl,” she concluded.The post ‘You have the money’: Kelly Stafford calls out the NFL for not making change for safety appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.