Junior Seau, the great San Diego Chargers linebacker who killed himself in May 2012, did not have a concussion diagnosed during his 20-year NFL career.
Speaking to GQ magazine, the former Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon said: "One thing I read that was peculiar to me – [Seau] had never been diagnosed with a concussion. That tells me he wasn't reporting what was wrong with him. For a guy that played linebacker for 20 years, somewhere in there he would've had a concussion."
The magazine, in a piece entitled "The Violent Life and Sudden Death of Junior Seau", has sought to construct an oral history of a case which has caused controversy, as the NFL faces more than 3,000 lawsuits from former players who have suffered head injuries.
The magazine spoke to a number of Seau's team-mates and friends about the problems faced by players who suffer head injuries and the culture within the NFL regarding reporting such problems. The former Chargers guard Aaron Taylor said: "Guys keep things to themselves. They suck it up. It allows us to be good football players, but it slices our throats on the back end, because we use the same tools in this new arena that allow us to be successful during our careers."
In November last year, 56% of players surveyed in Sporting News midseason poll said they would hide symptoms of concussion in order to stay on the field.
Seau retired in 2010, after a career in which he played for the Chargers, the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots and was selected to the Pro Bowl 12 times. He was 43 years old when he shot himself in the chest. In 2011, the former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duerson had killed himself in the same way, leaving a note in which he left his brain to scientific research.
In August 2012, autopsy results found no evidence of trauma in Seau's brain. In January 2013, however, the National Institutes of Health said a study of Seau's brain had revealed abnormalities consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Later that month, Seau's family announced that they were pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against the NFL. The Seau family also announced that they were suing Riddell, the maker of the helmets used in the NFL.
The lawsuit against the NFL cited a 1993 film, NFL Rocks, in which Seau, asked how he felt about dealing out and taking so many punishing hits, said: "If I can feel some dizziness, I know that guy is feeling double [that]."
Seau had a troubled retirement, confronting problems with alcohol, gambling and family life. In 2010, after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend, he drove his car off a 30ft cliff. Police investigated the incident, in which Seau was not injured, as a possible attempted suicide. No charges were filed.
In the GQ piece, Taylor said: "The alcohol was a numbing-out of all the things that troubled him: he had financial demands, he had familial issues, he had marriage issues. I know he had deep, deep guilt about how he was not showing up as a father toward the end."
