After an impressive run as a special teams star and a receiver for Texas Tech, Wes Welker went undrafted in 2004. Small and underestimated, it took him a few seasons to start showing signs of the world-class receiver that he’d become for the New England Patriots. Once he hit his stride though, he never looked back.

Welker developed a reputation for being one of the toughest receivers in the league, fighting tooth and nail for every last yard he could muster. It’s hard enough to pull that off as a behemoth like Rob Gronkowski, let alone at 5’9″ – and no one knows that better than Welker himself.

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Back in 2015, during the eight-game stint with the Rams that would mark the end of his career, Welker had this to say to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in response to questions about his history of concussions:

“I know I’m the poster child right now and everything else,” he said. “I’m good, and I’m ready to play some ball.”

Now, after a restless season away from football in 2016, Welker will return as part of the coaching staff for the Houston Texans – a group that is full of fellow Patriots alumni including coach Bill O’Brien, assistant HC Romeo Crennel, defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel and special teams coordinator Larry Izzo.

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Time hasn’t much softened his hard-nosed stance on the repercussions of his playing style in the NFL, though.

Via ESPN.com:

“Is there a possibility [of long-term implications]? Maybe, I don’t know. We’ll have to see how everything kind of happens, I guess. “I’m going to try to do everything I can to put myself in a position where I’m healthy and hopefully good. If I’m good, then great. At the same time, I’m not going to live my life worrying if my brain is going to explode at any second.”

It’s a truly terrifying thought when put like that, but with his playing days behind him, it’s easy to understand why he’d want to just live in the moment and look forward to the future.

Still, while his commitment to moving on with life after playing is staunch, he did admit that in hindsight there were probably ways by which he could’ve prevented some of the trauma he put his body through.

Via ESPN.com:

“Do I wish, looking back, [that I] would have gone out of bounds or gotten down, earlier in my career especially? There’s always a warrior mentality, but trying to be smart about some of those things; I mean, yeah, I probably would have,” he acknowledged. “When you don’t have any concussions and you’re just kind of going out there recklessly, you’re 20-something years old, you don’t think about it. You just go play.”

Hopefully retired football players continue to share this message, and doctors and scientists continue to find new ways to combat CTE and concussion symptoms in aging former players. It’s a shame to think that someone would have to suffer later in life after having brought so much joy to football fans all over the country.