Former CB Sam Shields Talks About The Concussion Battle, Says “His Head Is All Messed Up”

Sam Shields, a former Packers defensive back and Super Bowl victor played in the NFL for eight seasons. Now he regrets doing so.

Former CB Sam Shields Talks About The Concussion Battle, Says “His Head Is All Messed Up”

Shields, 34, made this statement on Dan Le Batard’s South Beach Sessions show and expressed sorrow for his tenure in the league at the time. He claims that concussions are a major factor, that his head feels “all muddled together” right now, and that he doesn’t feel like his friends or family are there for him.

“When you’re done with football, everybody forgets about you,” Shields said, per Audacy’s Jesse Pantuosco. “Family, friends. I got one friend. In football, I had 10. Now I got one where I know that that’s my friend. That I could really say, ‘You’re my friend.’ I don’t even talk to most of my family members. Once football was over, everybody was over with me.”

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At one point during the conversation, Le Batard asked Shields if, given a chance, he would make his football career all over again.

“No,” Sam Shields said. “I’d be going to school, trying to work for home improvement. I’d be trying to learn how to build a house.” Sam Shields has won the Vince Lombardi Trophy once, was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2014, and played for the Rams in Super Bowl LIII, which they lost to Tom Brady’s New England Patriots. If he had it to do over, though, he would live a life totally unrelated to sports.

Shields played for the Packers for his first seven NFL seasons before suffering a concussion and missing 14 months of action. He eventually made a comeback to the field in 2018, playing in all 16 games for the Rams. Shields sustained at least five concussions that were documented during a time when there were few precautions in place to prevent them, yet based on his own admissions published in the Players’ Tribune, it is likely there were many more.

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Following Tua Tagovailoa’s injury on September 25 while playing for the Miami Dolphins, the NFL revised its concussion protocols this season. After sustaining what appeared to be a head injury, Tagovailoa was permitted to return to the game. Later, Tagovailoa, 24, was treated for a concussion in a hospital.

A player being assessed for a concussion who exhibits ataxia will not be allowed to return to the game, according to the NFL and NFL Players Association’s modified procedure.

This also teaches us a very important lesson which, if Tom Brady hears, would be a life changer for him, that is not to put life above work. Sure, passion and work should be a priority but choosing that above life is always a mistake. In the end, everyone is going to forget your stardom once you leave NFL. The only thing that remains is the family.

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