Steve Breaston is entering his sixth season as an NFL wideout. Currently with the Chiefs, Breaston doesn't spend his time inside defensive meeting rooms, but he's fully aware of the opponent's goals come game day.
"I think I've said it before, I feel like that every game. I feel like defensive players are trying to, not trying to injure you in a way, but inflict pain," Breaston told KCSP-AM this week, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. "If I go across the middle, in order for that defender to jar the ball out of my hands, he's going to have to hit me hard. Or it wouldn't be the game of football.
"That's just part of the culture. That's just football. It's been like that since we started playing when we were younger."
Breaston told KCSP that altering a rule or two and expecting immediate change in the game is unrealistic. It's an argument we've heard many times. While Breaston supports the NFL's push for safety, he says players have been brought up to perform a certain way. That instinctual approach to the game can only be tempered over time.
"In between that transition, you're still going to see those hits," Breaston said. "... I just know that, as of now, football's a violent game. It is what it is. It's a contact sport."
Blunt words from a man absorbing the hits on Sundays.
