There is little question that former Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson was one of the most physically gifted players in NFL history. But despite his size and strength, it is well-documented that by the time he decided to retire, at the age of 30, his body had been banged up and he was not willing to risk his well-being any longer.
We all knew about Johnson’s extensive injuries throughout his career, but what we did not know is that he also suffered concussions. Johnson recently revealed to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press that he not only suffered concussions, but that he played through them without telling the Lions.
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By the sounds of it, he is not the only player to do this.
“Guys get concussions, they don’t tell the coaches,” Johnson said after his “Catching Dreams” football camp Saturday at Southfield High. “It happens. I don’t tell the coach sometimes cause I know I got a job to do. The team needs me out there on the field. And sometimes you allow that to jeopardize yourself, but that’s just the nature of the world.”
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Johnson’s comments come just days after Tom Brady’s wife, Gisele Bundchen told CBS This Morning that Brady suffered and played through a concussion last season with the New England Patriots.
“I just have to say, as a wife, as you know (the NFL) is not the most, let’s say, unaggressive sport. Football, he had a concussion last year,” she said in the interview. “He has concussions pretty much every…I mean we don’t talk about it. But he has concussions and I don’t really think it’s a healthy thing for your body to go through. You know, that kind of aggression all the time, that cannot be healthy for you. I’m planning on having him be healthy and do a lot of fun things when we’re like 100 I hope.”
#NEW: @giseleofficial told @CharlieRose on @CBSThisMorning that Tom Brady had a concussion last year. "He does have concussions." pic.twitter.com/K4B8ixDN9X
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) May 17, 2017
