The NFL released data on Friday detailing the rise of concussions following the 2022 regular season that was plagued with several head-injury conversations across the league.
According to the data provided by the NFL, 149 concussions were suffered across 271 games this season. That makes for an 18 percent jump from the 126 concussions in 2021, and is 14 percent higher than the three-year average of 130 concussions from 2018 to 2020.
NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills spoke on Friday and attested that protocol changes made in October, following the injury of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, “broadened and strengthened” the definition of a concussion when assessing players has contributed to the rise.
Per ESPN, he said, “We continue to become more cautious and conservative in our evaluation and diagnosis of concussions. That’s not just an opinion. That’s backed up by the data.”
The number of evaluations each game has also increased over time, topping at an average of 1.6 per game this year, along with a jump — nearly twice as much — in medical timeouts from 2021 to 2022.
If there is any good news to take away from the data, it’s that practice concussions decreased to an eight-year low at 25 thanks to certain players wearing Guardian Cap pads on their helmets and adjusting the training camps’ acclimation period.
According to NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller, those that wore the protective caps saw a drop of 52 percent in concussions in the same time period of 2021.
Despite suffering two concussions this year, Tagovailoa has planned to return for the upcoming 2023 season.