Bo Jackson on hits to Panthers QB Cam Newton’s head: ‘It scares the hell out of me’
Bo Jackson is still concerned about the health effects of playing in the NFL — and he’s concerned about one player in particular.
Jackson, a former NFL and Major League Baseball star, created a stir last week when he told USA Today he wouldn’t have played football if he known about the health impacts, particularly brain injuries, back then. Jackson won the 1985 Heisman Trophy as a running back at Auburn.
Newton, who played quarterback at Auburn, won the Heisman Trophy in 2010 when he led the Tigers to a national title. Newton is now the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers, who he guided to the Super Bowl after the 2015 season.
Jackson and Newton are very close.
“The person I love in the NFL like my own son is Cam Newton. I cuss him out like my own son. But every time he takes a hit to his head, that scares me, it scares the hell out of me,” Jackson told USA Today in a follow up to their original story.
“I witnessed him getting hit hard twice, and both times go to the locker room. I know he can take care of himself, but it still scares me. I care about all of those players playing, I don’t want to see anybody getting hurt.”
Jackson has reason to worry about Newton, who took some well-publicized hits to the head during the 2016 season.
In the season opener, Super Bowl 50 rematch between the Panthers and the Denver Broncos, Newton took at least four helmet-to-helmet hits, according to the Charlotte Observer. None were called, despite the NFL’s added emphasis on concussion and concussion protocol.
“It’s not fun getting hit in the head,” Newton said after the game.
A few weeks later, Newton — angered by a series of no-calls on hits against him, including a blow to his knee against Arizona — said he would speak with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about how he was being officiated.
“It’s really taking the fun out of the game for me. At times I don’t feel safe. And enough is enough,” Newton said.
Newton suffered a concussion against the Atlanta Falcons on Oct. 2 on another hit. He missed one game.
“Concussions are real. It’s a real issue,” Newton told the Charlotte Observer in October. “I’m trying to find ways with my foundation to start focusing on head injuries because at our level they’re focusing on it, but when you look at rec ball, peewee ball, high school ball, that’s the thing that turns my stomach because they’re being coached by people who don’t really know about football.”
USA Today’s For the Win concluded there have been at least 10 hits against Newton that should have been flagged, but weren’t. Newton took several more hits to the head against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 7.
This story was originally published January 16, 2017 at 10:15 PM with the headline "Bo Jackson on hits to Panthers QB Cam Newton’s head: ‘It scares the hell out of me’."