Three in Four Deceased ex-NFL Players Had CTE

This one's a sad story, folks.

A new study estimates that about three in four former NFL players who died over a 15-year stretch, from 2008 to 2023, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The Guardian reports the research appeared in JAMA Network Open and looked at 2,362 players. CBS News and The Guardian say a Boston-based team carried it out.

CTE is a brain disease tied to repeated blows to the head, and it can only be confirmed by examining brain tissue after death. For the families of these men, those numbers are not abstract. The reports don't explain how the players were chosen or how the estimate was figured, so those questions remain open.