Junior Seau was one of the best middle linebackers in the NFL during his 20 years of playing, accumulating over 1,500 tackles and making an insurmountable number of hits. In 2011, shortly after retiring, he suddenly committed suicide by shooting himself. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted a study of Seau's brain and diagnosed him with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head trauma (Pilon and Belson). Seau is among countless other former players whose football careers changed their lives forever. Former quarterback Terry Bradshaw told USA Today how poor his mental health has become. He says, “I couldn't concentrate and remember things, and I was dealing with depression” (Breslow, “NFL Concussions: The 2013-14 Season in Review”). Seau's death and Bradshaw's decline connect to a growing epidemic in sports today: concussions. Recently, concussions have increased in contact sports, particularly football (Breslow, “What We Learned from Two Years of Tracking Concussions”). This increase, along with improved awareness and pressure from lawsuits and the media, has led to the search for better concussion diagnostic technology and rule changes in football. Concussions and their associated effects have forced football to evolve, for the better. A concussion is “a brain injury caused by a force to the head or by a force directed to the face, neck, or chest” (“Comprehensive Concussion Center”). These traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) occur frequently in contact sports. Andrew E. Lincoln's research on the incidence of concussions in high schools showed that concussions have steadily increased in these sports, but particularly in football. His study also showed: “Concussions increased 4.2 times above mid-sheet……E., et al. “Trends in concussion independence in high school sports.” American Journal of Sports Medicine. American Journal of Sports Medicine, Jan. 29, 2011. Web. May 12, 2014. “New NFL rules designed to limit head injuries.” NFL.com. National Football League, August 6, 2010. Web. May 13, 2014. .Pilon, Maria and Ken Belson. "Junior Seau's death ruled a suicide." New York Times. New York Times, January 10, 2013. Web. May 18, 2014. .Vrentas, Jenny. “Where the game is headed.” The MMQB with Peter King. Time, October 25, 2013. Web. May 19 2014. .