As a former player i definitely agree the game is going down the tube. To me it start soon with the CTE issue and how that affects youth/parent outlook, and then how it has changed the rules of the game. Parents and young players simply aren’t going to choose football with so many other options out there. I just read an article about a former Notre Dame receiver who is a baseball star—guy would’ve been out of the NFL in 6 years and beat to a pulp. He’s had like a 12 year MLB career (good on ya shark!). Why risk it?

And then on the flip side, the way the league has tried to pay lip service to the issue is by pacifying the game Andy taking away what we loved to see-big hits and violence. I love the strategy and scheming as much as anyone, but schemes can be seen in any sport-i watch football for the collisions.

Add in that young athletes are also becoming more aware of where the money is. The NFL makes huge money compared to the other leagues, but the players have the worst contracts and shortest careers. That’s going to divert talent to other sports, which undermines the quality of the game.

People like to point to politics, but the NBA players are very vocal politically-they just don’t kneel, so i dunno.

There are so many different thing so playing into this devaluation of the NFL, it’s hard to blame just one thing. End of the day, it seems still entertaining, it’s still fun, the XFL return might actually help by getting more mind skills on football year round. Who knows?