Roger Goodell began his run as NFL commissioner in 2006 with an emphasis on discipline and player safety. Six years later, not much has changed. Player health and safety are even bigger topics of discussion than ever.
Wyche: Back in style
In a QB era, Steve Wyche identifies five running backs who could carry their respective teams to the playoffs in 2012. **More ...**
The testing and treatment of concussions continues to evolve at the highest level. In a conversation with Peter King of SI.com on Friday, Goodell indicated that the next step might be for players to take concussion tests on the sidelines via electronic tablets.
"The first thing to do is prevent it. That goes to rules, equipment," Goodell said in the most recent installment of King's "Monday Morning Quarterback" column. "The second is our sideline assessment tools. We have made changes to that. There are some new technologies that make this very soon in the future where on a tablet, you can actually take a test on the sideline to determine (the concussion)."
Goodell said that technology could be in place this year. He also emphasized that players have to self-report their concussions and the league will have spotters whose job is to identify players with possible concussions. There are so many issues to untangle with former players that are suffering, and we won't try to tackle that topic in this post. But it's hard to deny that more is being done now than ever before to help keep players safe during the football season.
