Dear Next President,

First, I would like to congratulate you on becoming the new president of the U.S.A. I believe you will make a great president and I wish you luck on making this country even better than it already is. Now I would like to bring up a problem that you may already know about but I think still needs to be solved. CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) has been a big problem for NFL players and has killed many former players.

Right now and for the past 15 years head injuries, especially CTE, have been a big concern for NFL players. Many players have suffered from CTE and died from it. It is still happening today. The fear of getting CTE has caused many players to retire just after a few years, such as Chris Borland, A.J. Tarpley, and many more. Some of the most notable causes of CTE have been from Terry Long, Junior Seau, Mike Webster, and Andre Water. Terry Long died from CTE after drinking a whole gallon of antifreeze in 2005. Junior Seau and Andre Water both committed suicide by shooting themselves in the chest, both caused by CTE. Mike Webster did not die from CTE but he did have it and it caused him to get amnesia, dementia, and depression, causing him to suffer. We need to find a solution to stopped NFL players from getting CTE so people can play the game without any worries.

My suggestion for a solution is that the NFL becomes safer for the players. One thing that the NFL could do is design new and safer equipment for the players that would help prevent getting more concussions and other kinds of injuries. Also, they could implement safer rules and procedures if they are concerned if somebody has a concussion or any kind of injury. If they do all those things they could lower the number of players getting CTE and make the players want to play in the league longer.

The biggest concern of getting CTE is dying from it. Dying from CTE is very common with it. According to CBS News, in 2015, 87 out of 91 deceased former NFL players were diagnosed with CTE. That is a lot of players and we have to reduce that amount of players getting it. A problem before was that the NFL hid information to the players about head injuries. Without the NFL telling the players that they had no idea the risk of playing football.

I hope that CTE will be solved one day and not ignored so people stop dying from it. Designing new equipment and making safer rules and procedures will help prevent CTE and former NFL players dying. Thanks for reading and considering this.

Sincerely,

Tommy Buell, 10th Grade

Mendota Heights, Minnesota