Concussions Occurred During The 2015 Preseason and Regular Season

Of the 271 concussions this season – 234 occurred in games and 37 in practices. The league offered no immediate context or explanation to go with the data release, which was conducted by Quintiles Injury Surveillance and Analytics. That includes 29 concussions in preseason practices, 52 concussions in preseason games, eight concussions in regular-season practices and 182 concussions in regular-season games. That could mean that concussion rates didn’t rise and it’s just the rate at which they’re actually diagnosed and recorded.

The NFL released their yearly injury report on Friday, and there is a reason it was released on a Friday.

The increase comes after three straight seasons in which the total had dropped as the league implemented rules in an effort to reduce the number of head shots.

The NFL says reported concussions rose 58 percent in regular-season games to the highest number in any of the past four years.

Among the possible explanations mentioned by Miller were a doubling in the number of players screened for possible concussions, “unprecedented levels of players reporting signs and signals of concussions”, and the fact that trainers who work as spotters or independent neurologists on sidelines “are much more actively participating in identifying this injury”.

Of the 271 reported concussions, more than a third – 92, also a four-year high – were the result of helmet-to-helmet contact, despite the league’s efforts to reduce that type of hit, especially against defenseless players.

The league reported 56 ACL sprains – all knee sprains are some degree of tear – which is about league average.

Almost half of all regular-season concussions in 2015 came via a collision with another helmet. “I think we’re lowering the threshold” of when a concussion is reported.