Brett Favre is no stranger to concussions, and he wants to prevent them in kids.
The 51-year-old ex-NFL quarterback encouraged parents to keep their kids out of tackle football until they turn 14 years old in a public service announcement released Tuesday with the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
Research from Boston University shows that for every year a person plays tackle football, their risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a devastating degenerative brain disease, increases 30%.
Favre has spoken previously about discouraging kids from playing tackle football. In 2018, he said he’d support a theoretical law to ban tackle football for kids under 12. Favre also said he’d rather see his own grandchildren play a different sport. In the video, he encouraged youngsters to play flag football instead.
“Having kids play tackle football before high school is just not worth the risk,” Favre told the Concussion Legacy Foundation. “CTE is a terrible disease, and we need to do everything we can to prevent it for the next generation of football players.”
Favre played 19 years in the NFL, suffered several concussions and fears he may have CTE. The disease cannot be officially diagnosed until after a person dies.
“I still can remember certain things that you would go, ‘Why would you even remember that?’ ” Favre told the “Today” show. “But I can’t remember someone that I played six years with in Green Bay ... but the face looks familiar. Those type of issues that make me wonder.”
