Junior Seau, a 12-time NFL Pro Bowl selection, has reportedly committed suicide.  Seau's death could have a big impact on the NFL.

 

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Junior Seau had a fantastic NFL career.  Seau was a 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker.  He played in the NFL for 20 years and is an obvious Hall of Famer once he's eligible for induction.  Seau's final season was in 2009.  Junior Seau reportedly committed suicide on Wednesday morning.  His girlfriend called the police at 9:35am PT, and stated that Seau was unconscious from a gunshot wound.

Outside of the obvious pain that his family is going through right now, I started to think about the potential impact on the league.  The NFL is taking a hard-lined approach when it comes to player safety.  The league has moved the kickoff line from the 30 to the 35-yard line to reduce the number of collisions.  There is talk that the league may eliminate kickoffs although someday.  What if Junior Seau, an incredibly popular and well-known player, committed suicide partly due to head injuries?  What might the NFL do to make the game even safer?

I'm all for making the game safer as long as it doesn't drastically alter the basic foundation of football.  It's not unreasonable to anticipate the league taking an even-stronger, proactive approach with the goal of making the game safer.  Again, I'm fine with safety as long as it doesn't drastically alter an incredibly violent sport.  You can tweak the game to make it safer, but you can't take football out of football.

Send a prayer out to Seau's family.  They could use it at a time like this.

Brian Noe is the Program Director at 104.5 The Team, ESPN Radio in Albany, NY.  Brian also hosts “The Noe Show” each weekday from 1-3pm ET on WTMM.

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