With all the importance placed on head injuries and concussions in sports over the past few years, all the safety measures in the world don’t help if players aren’t honest.
Greg McElroy was sacked 11 times in the Jets’ loss to the Chargers on Sunday, and at some point during the game, he suffered a concussion. McElroy reportedly began experiencing serious headaches Thursday morning, according to ESPN, and that’s when he decided to tell the Jets’ training staff about his symptoms.
Several Jets players say McElroy had been wrestling with the decision for days. One player was wide receiver Clyde Gates, who also had a concussion earlier in the season.
“He came to my room and we talked about it,” Gates told ESPN. “He was hurting real bad. I was like, ‘Bro, I know, I’ve been down that road already. I’m just saying you can’t try to tough it out, ’cause you going to end up hurting yourself. You’ve got to let everybody know how you really feel.'”
Left guard Matt Slauson, who has also had a concussion, also talked to McElroy.
“He definitely has that [warrior] mentality, but it got to the point where it was scaring him,” Slauson said.
Mark Sanchez is slated to start in McElroy’s place Sunday against the Bills.
