John Urschel, a Ravens player known as much for his mathematical ability as his football skills, on Thursday joined a list of young NFL players who have retired from the game because of concerns about long-term damage from head injuries.
Although Urschel, 26, hasn’t commented on his reason for walking away from the game, team sources indicated his decision was related to the release of a study this week on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a debilitating brain disease. The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed the existence of CTE in the brains of 110 of 111 deceased former NFL players who donated their brains to research.
Urschel released a statement on Twitter saying: “It wasn’t an easy decision, but I believe it was the right one for me. There’s no big story here, I’d appreciate the right to privacy. … I’m excited to start working on my doctorate in mathematices full time at MIT. I’m looking forward to the chance to take courses that are only offered in the fall semester, while spending time with my fiancee and preparing myself for the new challenges that will come with fatherhood. We’re expecting our first child in December."
Urschel, a fifth-round draft pick in 2014 out of Penn State, started 13 games for the Ravens over the previous three seasons at either guard or center. He was expected to compete with Ryan Jensen and Matt for the starting center job after the Ravens traded three-year starter Jeremy Zuttah in the offseason.
Jake Lourim
John Urschel, offensive lineman for the Ravens and doctoral math student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pulled up a white stool with pink hearts drawn on it, sat in the front of a classroom and tried to tell a room of 14-year-olds he was once just like them.
Urschel gave a math lesson...
(Jake Lourim)
“John Urschel called me this morning exactly at 6:22. I remember when he called, I looked right at my computer clock there. He said that he’s going to retire from football,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said after the team’s first practice of training camp. “That was something that’s been on his mind for quite a while, throughout the offseason. That’s what he decided to do, so we respect John tremendously. Probably the rest of it is for him to answer, whatever the details are.”
Harbaugh was caught off guard by the timing.
“It was out of the blue,” he said. “He had been working hard. He was here all summer. He was working on his snaps all summer. He was doing a great job. It was definitely a lightning bolt that way.”
Urschel did not immediately reply to a call and a text message seeking comment.
Jonas Shaffer
What do Ravens guard John Urschel, a Stanford student who is designing algorithms to "identify mechanisms in tumor-driven immunosuppression," and an assistant professor who's working on the development of small flying robots so that they can "operate by themselves" all have in common?
What do Ravens guard John Urschel, a Stanford student who is designing algorithms to "identify mechanisms in tumor-driven immunosuppression," and an assistant professor who's working on the development of small flying robots so that they can "operate by themselves" all have in common? (Jonas Shaffer)
The recent trend of players retiring at or near their physical primes began in 2015, when San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland walked away after just one season. Other players who followed his example included Buffalo Bills linebacker A.J. Tarpley, New York Jets tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, 49ers tackle Anthony Davis and, most recently, New England Patriots wide receiver Andrew Hawkins.
The study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association is considered a significant step in examining CTE in football players because it involved the largest sampling of players’ brains in scientific literature to date.
In the experiment, four independent neuropathologists analyzed brain samples from more than 200 football players with experience in the sport ranging from recreational to professional — but the doctors were not given any information about the patients’ medical (or athletic) history. They found evidence of CTE in 87 percent of the samples, and in 99 percent of former NFL players’ brains.
Dr. Robert Cantu, co-founder of the CTE Center at the Boston University School of Medicine, said the study’s findings were so striking that he would not be surprised if they motivated Urschel’s decision, or if they prompt other young players to retire.
“There are a number of players retiring in their late 20s and 30s now who are still able to play, but they’ve made their money and they don’t want to take any further risk,” said Cantu, who is also co-founder and medical director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation. “I’m sure one of the risks they’re thinking about is CTE.”
The study does not improve understanding of how prevalent CTE and other brain damage is among football players. All of the brain samples were donated by families who might have had concerns or seen symptoms of brain degeneration in their loved one.
But it does suggest that the incidence and perhaps severity of CTE increase with more exposure to repeated blows on the field, Cantu said.
“The longer you play it, the more hits you take, the greater the chance you’ll have of getting it,” he said.
Dr. Bennet Omalu, a neuropathology professor at the University of California, Davis, who was the first to publish research studying CTE in NFL players, said the study released Tuesday should encourage parents to keep their children out of high-contact sports. While he said adults should remain free to choose to participate in football or other sports, he praised Urschel’s decision to retire.
“Preventing the next blow to his head while playing football is the smartest thing he could do for himself, his family and everyone who loves him,” Omalu said in an email.
The retirements have come against a backdrop of growing concern about the pervasive and devastating effects of concussions suffered routinely by players at all levels of football.
The American Medical Association study released this week was only the latest striking chapter in a story that has changed the way many athletes, parents and fans think about the nation’s most popular sport.
The fallout has included a $1 billion settlement between the NFL and former players seeking compensation for the brain injuries they suffered.
Jeff Zrebiec
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Following the team’s first full-squad practice of training camp Thursday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh brought up Kaepernick...
(Jeff Zrebiec)
Chris Nowinski, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Concussion Legacy Foundation, said the early retirements show that NFL players are better informed about concussions and are taking the evidence seriously. He does not expect head injuries to end football as we know it.