If the National Football League doesn't regulate the rules of player safety what would happen to the sport if someone died on the field? If the NFL regulates the play to much because they are overly concerned of player safety, will people be less entertained thus losing revenue to watch the game of football and end up destroying the sport as we know it?

Concussions: A concussion is considered to be a mild head injury that has an effect of temporarily loss of brain function and emotional symptoms. The signs of a concussion is a headache, dizziness, vomiting or loss of balance. Concussions occur a lot in the NFL but has been reduced from the rules created. In the mid 2000's the NFL made a rule that if player tested to be concussed they must sit out a week, and pass a concussion test before they started playing again. Once a player gets a concussion they are more likely to receive more, and the more they receive the worse the symptoms may get. Some concussions could cause a coma which is a state where the person is unconscious for at least 6 hours. Concussions have been known to haunt some players as teams would not want to risk a life to play the game, this sometimes means that some athletes would lose their job due to a simple head blow. This was very alarming to Roger Goodell who has been making rules to cut down on this type of injury. Concussions have also been known to cause Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. The symptoms of CTE would be memory loss, aggression, confusion and depression. This disease has been known to cause suicides and suicide thoughts such as the death of former San Diego Charger Junior Seau and other former NFL players. Roger Goodell made it his mission to to regulate and manage the game of football to lessen the amount of concussions and to try to eliminate the Disease of CTE. There has been a lot of controversial talks about Goodell's job and if he is eliminating the physical part of the game. Goodell has created jobs to watch all the players on the field to see possible signs of concussions, Goodell mandated that teams must carry more medical staff and trainers to allow a safer environment for the NFL. NFL players have recently came out to the press stating that everyone has had signs of a concussion or have had a few unreported concussions where the player would just keep playing.

"Normal brain (left), CTE diseased brain (right)"

A reason that could increase concussions and other career ending injuries is the difference in the size of players playing in todays game. The idea of getting the fastest strongest player possible sounds like the best idea to have the best team. When the game of football started 220 pounds was considered a big player and thats all teams had to go off of. As of recent players are now reaching over 300 pounds consistently but also running 40 yards in about 4.8 seconds, which getting hit at full speed  could generate enough force to kill a person without padding.

"Progression of NFL Size throughout the years"

One of the biggest career enders now in the NFL is tearing the Anterior Cruciate Ligament, this injury has ended hundreds of dreams and hundreds of NFL careers. This injury prevents a person from planting with his foot or even pivoting. Sports medicine has become so good at its job where the ACL can now be operated on and repaired, this doesn't mean that the player will be healed fully but might be able to resume their career. This injury usually takes about 8 months to fully recover and rehab from.

"ACL is located in the middle of the knee"

"Robert Griffin tears ACL in 2012 season"

In 1980 the NFL created the rule that any strike to the face was considered a personal foul. This rule was created for player safety to allow less contact to the face, head and neck. There will be some instances where someone may grab an opposing players face mask or swing a forearm into the other players helmet, but this has been reprehended with a penalty that hurts your field position and possibly a fine.

In 1996 the NFL made a rule in which helmet to helmet contact was a personal foul. This rule was in favor of the quaterback who could be hit in the lineman's pocket with out knowing that someone was entering from behind. This rule has prevented many concussions as the hits to someones head has dropped in numbers since this rule has being enforced.

In 2005 the NFL implemented the rule that a defender was prohibited from hitting a passer in the knee or below unless they were blocked into the quarterback. This hit was implemented by Benard Pollard hitting Tom Brady and tearing his ACL.These rules would decrease the amount of ACL/MCL tears or any other knee injuries, saving the careers of many NFL players in the future. This rule may also prevent strained ankles or even broken ankles.

In 2010 the NFL banned Helmet to Helmet hits, they included a 15 yard penalty, a fine and a possible suspension not allowing a player to play a few games. This rule was created to try to eliminate possible concussions that may happen. In march of 2013 the NFL established a new safety rule that using the crown of your helmet for someone carrying the ball outside of the tackle box would be considered a penalty and would penalize your team 15 yards and possibly a fine this rule was created to also help with the current concussion problem in the NFL.

"Aaron Hernandez tackled by face mask" 

"Joe Webb tackled by face mask"

"Benard Pollard tackles Tom Brady in the knees"

Since the start of the National Football League in 1920 it was considered a ruthless league with little rules or regulations considering athlete safety.  About 40 years ago the league decided to implement rules such as pass interference to limit unfairly contact upon wide receivers that didn't have the ball. In some instances players would be running into another as hard as they could not caring to hurt themselves or the opposing players, but the mentality of playing with injuries wouldn't stop players playing the game. There were many teams in the NFL that would strike fear into other teams such as the Raiders or the Steelers. These teams were feared because their main goal of their game was to go out and play ruthless football and to hurt the other teams best players. There was players such as Jack Tatum aka "The Assassin" that has paralyzed people, Joe Greene aka "Mean Joe" that has kicked opposing team players in the groin and has swatted balls from the line of scrimmage due to losing, and there is also Ronnie Lott whom cut off his pinky finger just to play in the 1986 season, this action is unheard of in this time of the sport.

"Jack Tatum"

"Joe Greene"

"Ronnie Lott"