AP

Alex Boone is a creature of habit, and has been wearing a helmet so old that it’s no longer even manufactured. But after missing a week with his first concussion, he’s changing to a newer, more protective model even if he doesn’t like it.

Becuase he knows what’s at stake is more important than his inconvenience.

“This is a brutal game,” Boone said, via Chad Graff of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I’m at a position where you’re getting hit constantly in the head. It’s one of those things where I know what’s going to happen to me someday. I signed up for this a long time ago, and I love this game more than anything.

“I know what’s going to happen, but at the end of the day, if I can try to help myself be smarter and be better, then I will.”

Boone’s not excited about changing hats, but he also has a wife and daughter, and that was in his mind when he was being evaluated prior to last week. He said he thought he was well enough to play last week, but didn’t fight with the doctors when they told him he wasn’t cleared.

“And the testing was just obnoxious,” Boone said. “I mean, [geez]. Whoever made that testing is a real [jerk]. The ImPACT test, you’re sitting in front of a computer for 30 minutes answering questions. . . .

“It’s annoying, but I understand it. It’s a process. This is a brutal game. It is what it is. Sometimes you get hit in the head and things go wrong. I have kids and the last thing I want to do is have them take care of me [when I’m] 35. It’s hard because I want to play and I want to do everything, but I want to be a dad at the same time.”

And that was more than enough to make him change helmets, which seems like a small concession to make.