Researchers from that school later determined that Duerson suffered from a neurodegenerative disease linked to concussions, and that played a role in triggering his depression. Just block out this pain. Sometimes you play a game with those. Concussions are under-reported in football, said Dr. David A. Junior Seau dies in apparent suicide.
Thousands attend celebration of life of Junior Seau. But in , Seau was nowhere near Canton. He was too busy captaining the New England Patriots to an undefeated regular season—and the Super Bowl. Seau was born before man landed on the moon, was playable in Tecmo Super Bowl for the original NES, and he completed his last regular-season tackle on Arian Foster.
When Seau died, I wrote his unique talent and special position in football history meant his all-around dominance would never be seen again. Seau was traded to the Dolphins in at an age when most linebackers' bodies are breaking down.
After starting 15 games that season, age eventually caught up to Seau too. A torn pectoral muscle limited him in , and an Achilles tendon injury ended his season prematurely. In , Seau announced his retirement. Seau spoke of his intent to graduate from playing into a new phase of life—yet seemed to leave the door open to joining a championship-caliber roster. I'm not a player than can play by just wanting to play the game.
I'm a guy that needs to win, and they go hand in hand. Just days later, Bill Belichick called. The Patriots were winners, and with Tedy Bruschi injured, they needed Seau. He started 10 games for the Patriots in before his body betrayed him again, this time with a broken arm. In , the Patriots' dream year, Seau had his best season since leaving the Chargers. Not only was he a key contributor, he was named a team captain.
Active for every game and starting four of them, Seau had 58 tackles, 16 assists, 3. When the Patriots blew their bid to complete the first undefeated run through a modern schedule with less than a minute left, Seau lost his best and final chance to win a Super Bowl ring. Seau retired after that—though in both and , the Patriots called him late in the season to help them try to get back to the mountaintop. Both times, he took his cleats down off the shelf.
Both times, the Patriots fell short: In , they became only the squad in the team era to win 11 games but miss the playoffs, and they were bounced out of the first round in Though not part of his career, it is necessary to remember his posthumous chronic traumatic encephalopathy CTE diagnosis and the possible role the disease played in his suicide.
As the Netflix documentary shows, he was also suspected in a string of other shootings and murders. Brain scans later revealed that Hernandez had the worst case of CTE that Boston University researchers had ever seen in someone his age It was an inexplicable act, and a horribly tragic one. Junior Seau, a father of four, and a beloved figure on the football field, committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest at his Oceanside, California home in That was five years before Aaron Hernandez hanged himself in a Massachusetts prison cell.
I worked with Junior here and later in Miami. I can tell you no one had more character and true leadership ability than Junior. He brought passion to the game of football that was unmatched. His commitment to charitable causes in the community was inspiring. It was an honor to know him. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. Yet, he never lived to see his 44th birthday. On May 2, , his girlfriend found him dead inside his Oceanside, Calif.
Seau shot himself in the chest but did not leave a suicide note. Immediately, people questioned why he would take his own life just two years after retiring from the NFL.
It turns out that CTE may have played a role in his suicide. In January , Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru of ESPN reported that five brain specialists consulted by the National Institutes of Health concluded that Seau suffered from the degenerative brain disease commonly found in former football players. That came as a shock to some considering Seau never had a diagnosed concussion during his NFL career. His death caused conflict for his children, who watched their father achieve so much through sports.
And to see that this was the final outcome is really bittersweet and really sad.
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