Mark Jackson, a former Broncos wide receiver, says he is 100 percent positive he has CTE, and he is questioning how much support the NFL gives its former players.
Jackson told Pro Football Network that he has at least four documented concussions from his playing career. He also questioned the help available to former players facing the long-term effects of head trauma, asking why more isn't being done for the men who played before today's protections existed.
That question lands with extra weight because CTE can only be confirmed after death, through examination of brain tissue. Jackson is alive. So his statement is not a doctor's diagnosis. It is a former player looking at his own history and telling the NFL what he believes football cost him.
He is not alone in that fear. Four documented concussions is only the number that made it into a medical file. The hits that went unreported, or unrecognized at the time, cannot be counted at all. For Jackson, the math is simple enough: he played, he was hit repeatedly, and now he says he has the disease.
His point isn't about whether the NFL has improved its concussion rules. It's about what happens to the players from the generation that came before those rules. Jackson is saying, plainly, that the league's former players are being left to handle the consequences on their own.
His claim can't be verified while he's alive, and he may be wrong. But that's the tragedy at the center of CTE. The only proof available arrives after the player is gone. Waiting for that proof does nothing for Mark Jackson. Naming the fear while he can still speak is the only tool he has left.
My verdict: The NFL should treat Jackson's words as an urgent problem, not a legal risk. A player has told the league he believes he has CTE. Demanding a posthumous diagnosis before responding is not a policy, it's an excuse.