Despite suffering a concussion in each of his first two NFL seasons, Chicago Bears safety Jaquan Brisker topped 100 total tackles in each campaign and became a key defensive piece while missing a total of four games.
Last season, things took a turn for the worse on that front with his third concussion in as many seasons. This time, he missed the final 12 games of the season and there have been natural questions about his health and long-term future as a player.
At Bears' minicamp last week, Brisker made it clear he is not considering retirement and he will not be changing his playing style.
"No, I’m not,” Brisker said. “I’m not. I’m good. I’m past that point. I’m really moving on. I’m just focused on playing ball. I’m going to continue to play the same way...I want to hit right now."
The questions for Brisker during that media availability last week were centered around his health, as expected. It seems he had previously indicated something about having to retrain his nervous system after last year's concussion, and he was asked what that exactly meant.
Jaquan Brisker reveals stark details of recovery from the third concussion of his career
"I went to a doctor in Pittsburgh (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), and he basically just explained the type of concussion I had and told me how to retrain it," Brisker said. "Really just doing exercises. That's really what I had to do, then I did furthermore later on, when I got to California."
Brisker described some fairly straight-forward exercises he did to retrain his nervous system, which seems to be part of the process to recover from the type of concussion he suffered last season. However, having to essentially "retrain" part of his brain is cause for concern.
Brisker acknowledged he was feeling "off" with dizziness and vertigo while he was in concussion protocol last year. He said the doctor in Pittsburgh diagnosed him with a vestibular concussion, which tracks since dizziness and vertigo are two of the common symptoms for that type of concussion.
Anytime the words "retrain" and "nervous system" are linked together, that feels like a point of danger/possible long-term effects that should only be crossed once.
Brisker has the expected optimism about his health, and he's ready to move forward. But he also almost seemed to shrug off his concussion history, and any potential residual impact of the most severe brain injury he has had in his NFL career.
The line between toughness and stupidity can be a thin one. Hopefully Brisker can put his concussion history behind him this year, and have a long, fruitful NFL career with no further head/brain injuries.