NFL says concussions way up; no release of full injury data

As the league increasingly implemented more rule changes to help reduce the purported amount of concussions, this year has seen a dramatic spike.

It’s rather surprising that this season would see an increase in concussions despite the added attention on the subject.

The number of reported concussions suffered by NFL players increased sharply this season, according to injury data released Friday by the league. There had been 261 concussions in 2012. That includes 29 concussions in preseason practices, 52 concussions in preseason games, eight concussions in regular-season practices and 182 concussions in regular-season games. It is hard to say the exact number of players which suffered concussions as there is the chance that a single player was concussed a couple of times. This number included concussions sustained during preseason.

Still, there have been more than 200 reported concussions in every season in the four-year window. They’ve had a dramatic impact on the game. From penalizing helmet-to-helmet hits and fining egregious instances of “targeting” to assigning impartial spotters to remove concussed players from play, and increasing education and awareness about head trauma, the league is trying to make the game safer.

Figures from the league indicate 176 concussions in 2012. There were 170 MCL sprains in 2015, an increase of 31 from 2014.

Rather than a discussion about the possibility that there were simply more concussions this season and what could have led to that, the emphasis during Friday’s call was on what the league and doctors touted as more efficient identification of head injuries during games.

However, Thursday games recorded 5.7 injuries per game, a four-year high, which brings into question the quick turnaround for a team that played on Sunday.