Everybody knows that the NFL is a high contact sport, meaning that those who play get bounced around a lot. This often results in injuries, such as concussions, which happen to be an epidemic in the NFL. What if we just turned professional football into flag football?

Melvin Ingram, a Chargers linebacker, said, “‘If you watch football, if somebody gets hit hard, they’re going to throw a flag,’’ Ingram said. “They’re making it more of a soft sport. Football was always an aggressive contact sport and they’re trying to take that away from the game.’’’

Melvin Ingram’s input on this situation is definitely different than most others, especially those who work in operations for professional football. NFL officials are attempting to solve the problem that plague football players, a concussion.

According to David DiSalvo of Forbes, “The NFL has given $30 million to the National Institutes of Health to support brain research focused on CTE.” CTE  (or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) is a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans and others with a history of repetitive brain injury.  

The safety of football players falls into the hands of those who can control the rules,  most likely NFL officials. Only these people can convert tackle football into flag football. If they were to do this, the risk of injuries like concussion would be decreased by a large percent. Football would be safer and players would likely have longer careers and lives.

This raises a final big question: If the NFL became the NFFL (National Flag Football League) would you still watch on Sunday?