Big hits in general aren't what is causing the long term injury. CTE seems to disproportionately effect linemen that seldom experience a "big hit" but hundreds

Big hits in general aren't what is causing the long term injury. CTE seems to disproportionately effect linemen that seldom experience a "big hit" but hundreds of small impacts every day during practice and play. The brain injury is most concerning, rules can adjust and technology gets better to mitigate the larger impacts, and outside of outlier catastrophic events I think many who have played will trade worn out joints and broken fingers for the experience of playing the greatest of team sports at the sub division 1* level but the mental harm is something entirely different and seems unlikely to be able to be fixed with it being anything like the gridiron football that's been played to this point. *Caveat on level because D1 and above you're making all sorts of sacrifices and trade offs that aren't something those outside of it can appreciate or even understand.