Mark Jackson can count the documented concussions from his nine-year NFL career. What the former Denver Broncos receiver cannot get while alive is a definitive diagnosis for the brain disease he believes those hits caused.
Speaking to Sports Illustrated as part of a wide-ranging examination of head trauma among retired players, Jackson said he had at least four documented concussions and expressed little doubt about what repeated blows may have done to his brain.
Mark Jackson Says He Believes He Has CTE
“I have at least four documented concussions,” Jackson told Sports Illustrated. He recalled being knocked unconscious multiple times early in his career, including games in Minnesota and Seattle, and described episodes severe enough that he could not remember where he was.
Then Jackson made his belief explicit.
“Yeah, I have CTE. It’s almost 100% positive that I do because I have the documented cases in Minnesota,” Jackson said.
That is Jackson’s assessment, not a confirmed diagnosis. Boston University’s CTE Center says chronic traumatic encephalopathy can currently be diagnosed definitively only after death through examination of brain tissue. There is no accepted MRI, CT scan, blood test, or other clinical test that can establish CTE with certainty in a living person.
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The distinction is especially relevant after new research intensified the discussion around former NFL players.
A Mass General Brigham, Boston University and Concussion & CTE Foundation new study examined 235 donated brains from former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021. Researchers found CTE in 215, or 91.4%, of those donated brains. Because brain donation is not random, researchers estimated the minimum prevalence among all 878 former NFL players who died during that period at 24.5%.
Jackson Is More Concerned About Retired Players
Jackson’s concern went beyond his own health. He criticized what he sees as an unnecessarily complicated process for compensating former players and argued the league should provide broader financial support instead.
“To be honest with you, I’m more concerned about former players’ longevity than I am about current players’ safety,” Jackson added.
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His perspective comes from an era in which concussion management looked dramatically different. Jackson played for Denver from 1986 through 1992 before finishing his career with the New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts. He caught 342 passes for 5,551 yards and 29 touchdowns overall.
In Denver, Jackson became part of the “Three Amigos” receiving corps with Vance Johnson and Ricky Nattiel. He appeared in three Super Bowls and caught John Elway’s game-tying touchdown at the end of “The Drive” in the 1986 AFC Championship Game.
Jackson also acknowledged that the league has taken steps to improve current player safety. His frustration is aimed more heavily at what happens after the cheering stops.
Football gave Jackson a nine-year career and some of the defining moments in Broncos history. Decades later, he is asking whether the players who absorbed the sport’s damage are receiving enough help after their careers end.
