Worst NFL Injuries of All Time

Football and the National Football League (NFL) in particular is a brutal sport that sees players push their bodies to the limit with repeated physical encounters during games and while injuries are an unfortunate reality of all sports, some that have afflicted NFL players are truly awful.

The sheer number of cases of NFL players suffering damaging injuries on the field of play leading them to retire from the game entirely and in some instances causing them to be left paralyzed is tragic. In this piece on the NFL and concussions we will be looking at some of the worst concussions in NFL history as well as the worst NFL injuries of all time.

• NFL Players And Concussions
• Worst Concussions in NFL
• Other Worst NFL Injuries Of All Time

NFL Players and Concussions

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a neurodegenerative disease linked to suffering repeated trauma to the head – was found in 345 of 376 deceased former NFL players’ brains, according to a 2023 report from the Boston University CTE Center. This shocking revelation has led to questions being asked about what is being done to protect the next generation of players from suffering the same fate.

Worst Concussions in NFL

Concussions have afflicted a number of NFL stars over the years and in this section we are going to look at four of them in more detail.

Steve Young

Young played for 15 seasons in the NFL and was a three-time Super Bowl champion with the San Francisco 49ers. The quarterback enjoyed a career some players could only dream of but in 1999 it all came crashing down, with the Utah man revealing he suffered seven concussions before retiring that year.

During a game against the Arizona Cardinals he was knocked out during a sack by Cardinals cornerback Aeneas Williams and did not return for the rest of that season because of symptoms of post-concussion syndrome. That was already the second concussion he had suffered that year despite the fact that the season was barely three weeks old. At the end of the campaign the 49ers gave Young a difficult choice – retire or be released. Despite being offered a role as the starting quarterback at the Denver Broncos, Young decided that he had endured enough and brought an end to his glittering career.

In a 2013 interview he spoke about how himself and other retired players were becoming increasingly concerned about the concussions that players are suffering during their careers, particularly those in the positions of running back and linemen.

Mike Webster

Despite a similarly successful career, Mike Webster’s life ended at the age of just 50 when he suffered from a heart attack. However, an autopsy into his brain after his death revealed he had been suffering from CTE brain disease for years. Rewinding a bit, Webster – often known by his nickname ‘Iron Mike’ – was a key member of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line during their run of four Super Bowl victories in the 1970s. He is considered by some to be the greatest center the NFL has ever seen, but the way his life unraveled in his final years was certainly not befitting of someone with his talent.

He is thought to have battled with amnesia, dementia and depression as well as acute bone and muscular pain after his playing career came to an end. As he slowly lost his memory he lived out of his truck or in train stations despite being offered help from his friends and former team-mates. It is said he would regularly disappear for weeks at a time, exhibiting strange behavior and even going to extreme lengths like using tasers to help him get to sleep.

Webster’s story is one of the worst concussions in NFL history and inspired the 2015 film ‘Concussion’ starring Will Smith as Bennet Omalu, who fought against the NFL to release his research on CTE brain disease suffered by pro football players. Webster’s son Garret now serves as an administrator to the Brain Injury Research Institute in Pittsburgh.

Clinton Portis

One of the worst NFL concussions stories led Clinton Portis to actually sue the NFL over concussion and head injuries in 2013 along with former players Daunte Culpepper, Cadillac Williams and Art Monk. The Mississippi-born running back had a career lasting nine seasons in the NFL after being drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2002, where he would be named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Two years later he joined the Washington Redskins and upon his retirement was named as one of the 80 Greatest Redskins.

In total Portis believes he suffered 10 different concussions during his playing days, with one of the worst coming during a game against the Atlanta Falcons in 2009. He suffered a big hit which caused him to lose consciousness and depart the game, afterwards missing four straight matches due to concussion-like symptoms. He was sent to see a specialist for treatment but it eventually took four months for him to return to the field. Portis’ rapid speed couldn’t stop him from enduring a number of injuries during his career such as a partially dislocated shoulder, broken hand as well as abdomen and groin injuries, but it was the head injuries that led him to legal action involving NFL players and concussions.

Brian Westbrook

Brian Westbrook had a successful career in the NFL as a running back for nine seasons, being selected for the Pro Bowl in both 2004 and 2007. However, the Maryland-born star hit the headlines a few years after his retirement when he revealed that he was experiencing memory loss that he believed to have been caused by repeated concussions suffered during his playing days.

Westbrook said he found himself struggling to remember people’s names, recall facts or even retain new information and that he feared his symptoms would only get worse over time. During the 2009 season – his last for the Philadelphia Eagles – Westbrook was concussed and missed three straight weeks of action only to return and suffer yet another concussion, ruling himself out of the rest of the season. However, in light of his memory struggles he thinks he was cleared to return to play too quickly and didn’t spend enough time recuperating fully – a regular issue with NFL players and concussions.

Other Worst NFL Injuries of All Time

Concussions are just one type of devastating injury that affects NFL players as the brutally physical nature of the sport has often left their bodies in bits. It isn’t something bettors often consider when playing at US online sportsbooks but in this section we are going to look at some of the other worst NFL injuries of all time.

Joe Theisman’s Broken Leg

Joe Theismann suffered one of the most iconic and worst NFL injuries of all time when he broke his leg on national TV in 1985. The quarterback spent the majority of his career with the Washington Redskins, where he won the Super Bowl two years prior and it was in a game against the New York Giants where injury brought an end to his playing days.

Theismann was sacked by two linebackers – Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson – which caused a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg. As Taylor pulled him down his knee went straight into the New Jersey-born Theismann, who later described his leg as “snapping like a breadstick”. As the incident was filmed on live TV during a period where there was no social media or cable channels it has stuck in the minds of football fans for years.

Terrell Davis’ Knee Injuries

Terrell Davis enjoyed a brilliant career which saw him win the Super Bowl twice (as well as one Super Bowl MVP award) and be named the Denver Broncos all-time leading rusher and record-holder for the most postseason touchdowns. However, knee injuries wrecked the end of Davis’ career and he retired in 2002. Three years previously during a match against the New York Jets he tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) as well as the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his right knee during a tackle attempt. That injury saw him sidelined for the rest of that year and was followed by a spate of subsequent injuries that saw his powers dramatically wane.

Damar Hamlin’s Cardiac Arrest

Damar Hamlin almost lost his life while playing for the Buffalo Bills in 2023 after suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch. He was considered a huge talent coming out of Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh and was selected sixth in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Bills. But not only his career but his life appeared in serious jeopardy during a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals after tackling wide receiver Tee Higgins.

Higgins’ shoulder collided with Hamlin’s chest and although sports commentators at the time described the incident as seemingly routine, Hamlin was only able to stand up momentarily before passing out and falling backwards. He was given CPR treatment on the field of play for several minutes, with the game temporarily suspended and players on both teams returning to the locker rooms.

Hamlin was taken away in an ambulance and rode to the hospital with his mother by his side, with the league eventually postponing the game. He was in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and later confirmed how he had suffered from an episode of commotio cordis, a very rare condition that is almost always fatal if not treated within three minutes. Luckily Hamlin made a complete recovery and in August 2023 returned to NFL action.

Darry Stingley’s Broken Neck

Another shocking injury was that suffered by Darryl Stingley, who saw his burgeoning career ended at the age of just 26 by an awful spinal cord injury. During a pre-season game in 1978 the New England Patriots wide receiver was left paralyzed from the waist down after colliding with Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum. Stingley stretched out to try and get on the end of a pass but ended up compressing his spinal cord and breaking his cervical vertebrae.

Although he eventually regained some movement in his right arm, he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair, with his tragic injury putting pay to a contract he was due to sign that would have made him one of the highest-paid players in the league in his position. Stingley himself described it as a “freak accident” and although he and Tatum never saw eye to eye again, he remained involved in football, campaigning for player safety.

Dennis Byrd’s Spinal Injury

Dennis Byrd was a defensive end for the New York Jets when a head-first collision with a team-mate during a game in 1992 against the Kansas City Chiefs left him paralyzed. Byrd suffered a horrific neck injury as he tried to sack Chiefs quarterback Dave Kreig, but instead collided with his own team-mate Mersereau. Ducking his head at the last possible moment his head hit Mersereau’s chest, breaking his fifth cervical vertebrae and leaving him unable to walk.

His spine was stabilized during seven hours of painstaking surgery and through extensive rehabilitation Byrd was amazingly able to walk again but his playing career was over and he never returned to the NFL. Sadly the Oklahoma-born player lost his life in 2016 during a car accident, just 10 days before he turned 50 years old.