Over the weekend we saw one of those plays that polarizes the discussion of football’s longevity as a sport after Memphis’ JJ Russell was carted off the field against UCLA after a nasty collision while covering a kick. Russell will apparently “be fine”, but he looked the opposite of that being carried off the field in a stretcher after not moving for several minutes after the hit.

Brutal hit on Memphis' JJ Russell. Was on the field for a long time and had to be taken off on a stretcher. pic.twitter.com/tIiRigfe7B — Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) September 16, 2017

The sport’s multiple governing bodies are firmly aware of the dangers that kickoffs bring, recently moving the kickoff further and further up to avoid any actual returns and slow down the players, but we are still seeing scary plays like this.

I love football, and while kick returns for touchdowns are some of the most electric plays in all of sports (Devin Hester is my favorite player of all time, even being a complete liability at WR for the Bears for years), the kickoff is going to have to be eliminated entirely from the game for the sport to exist as we know it 50 years down the line.

I played very mediocre football for 8 years, and the only true time I ever thought I had a concussion was after covering a kickoff. You are either running full speed around someone or full speed through someone, not the safest of activities to put it lightly. While I love returns and how they can completely turn the tide a football game, I also love football itself, and parents are simply going to keep pulling their kids out of the sport if they think the dangers outweigh the benefits, and plays like the one we saw on Saturday are going to scare them away every time. I know, football is a physical sport. People hit each other, people get hurt, I get that, but plays like that just do not need to be around football, they just don’t. I think the player returned the ball to around the 25, right around the same place the ball would’ve been if it was a touchback, just without the potential of a player becoming paralyzed for the rest of his life.

While this could be seen as a very “soft” take or point of view, it is just the truth. No one benefits from someone fracturing a vertebrae or becoming paralyzed from the waist down. While the odds of that happening are still very low, they are way higher to happen on a kickoff then any other facet of football.

Another thing I noticed while watching football this weekend was something I heard multiple announcers say. I heard more than once announcers say something along the lines of “if you have an upper body injury, play through it.” While this might be a correct point of view as an NFL player, it is something that should not be said out loud on a national broadcast in my opinion. That kind of language is also going to drive parents away from the sport. A little soft, I know, but again these are just facts, and I for one want to still be watching real football 20 years down the road.