Former NFL Super Bowl Champion Leonard Marshall thinks football needs to be safer.
"They've gotta do something to take the helmet out of the game," he said, referring to the use of helmets in tackling.
Concussions have been a major focus for the NFL recently; just this week the league announced a 25% drop in player concussions this season.
Marshall suffers the effects of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which is a brain disease often found in athletes who have experienced repeated head trauma.
His symptoms first appeared 11 years after retiring from the NFL.
"I would forget things... I would have shouting matches with my wife for no reason, I would have this erratic behavior towards my child for no reason. I would do things that didn't make a lot of sense... Scared the daylights out of me."
Marshall says the NFL should have warned him and other players about the potential dangers that come with playing the game.
"[The NFL] didn't tell me about the risk associated with traumatic brain injury... They had to know something."
Now the three-time Pro Bowl Defensive Lineman is speaking out for player safety and preventing head injuries through his group, Brain Unity Trust.
"I wanna make [football] better," he said. "Make it safer. Make it better for kids."
- Joe Toohey