No-brainer: Carolina Panthers should sit Luke Kuechly, even if he’s cleared

This is the week the NFL’s concussion issue hit home for Carolina Panthers fans.

Middle linebacker Luke Kuechly, fresh off signing a $62 million contract extension, had an awkward collision with Jacksonville running back T.J. Yeldon that left Kuechly dead on his feet with the first known concussion of his NFL career.

Kuechly did not practice while spending all week in the concussion protocol. The team listed Kuechly as doubtful for Sunday’s game against Houston, though Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he would have an update on Kuechly’s status Saturday.

The answer is simple: The Panthers should sit Kuechly down.

The final step in the concussion protocol is for a player to be cleared by an independent neurology consultant, and Rivera said he didn’t know when Kuechly would see that doctor.

But even if Kuechly is cleared, the Panthers shouldn’t play him against the Texans.

And based on some things Rivera said Friday, I don’t think they will. (More on that later.)

Forget about Kuechly’s value to the team for a moment. The potential for long-term health issues as a result of brain injuries is too great. Putting Kuechly back in the lineup a week after he crumpled to the turf in Jacksonville would be the wrong call.

More data on the damaging effects of concussions came out Friday when Frontline reported 87 of 91 former NFL players tested positive for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease believed to stem from repetitive head trauma.

Researchers for the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University found evidence of that condition in 96 percent of NFL players they’ve examined (in the nation’s largest “brain bank”) and in 79 percent of all football players.

Researchers believe chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which can be definitively diagnosed only after death, can lead to memory loss, depression and dementia.

The NFL has taken steps to make the game safer, cracking down on helmet-to-helmet hits and implementing the concussion protocol. The league also gave a $1 million grant to the brain bank in 2010.

Kuechly is not the first Panthers linebacker to deal with a head injury.

Dan Morgan, a first-round pick who was on the Panthers’ 2003 Super Bowl team, retired after the 2007 season after suffering a series of head injuries. Morgan is now the Seattle Seahawks’ director of pro personnel.

Since Rivera arrived before the 2011 season, the Panthers have typically erred on the side of caution when it comes to head injuries.

In Rivera’s four-plus seasons, only two players have played a week after sustaining concussions: tight end Jeremy Shockey in 2011 and wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin last year.

Wideout Philly Brown missed three games last season after taking a big hit on a punt return that knocked him unconscious. Brown told me this week that he has no memory of the play and that he did not regain full consciousness until reaching the visitors locker room at Lambeau Field.

Trainers helped Kuechly off the field and into the locker room last week at Jacksonville. Kuechly, through a team spokesman, turned down my request for an interview Friday.

He spent Friday’s practice on the sideline, flipping a football in his hands and watching the defense go through drills.

Rivera said the training staff has had to rein in Kuechly.

“We’ve got to keep an eye on him, because he wants to do more and faster and quicker,” Rivera said. “That’s just Luke. That’s who he is. He wants it now. And we all have to go through this process.”

That process seems pretty straightforward. When Kuechly is cleared by the independent neurologist, he plays.

But the Panthers can exercise further caution.

Team doctors cleared quarterback Cam Newton to play in the season opener last year at Tampa Bay, but Rivera and the trainers decided to hold him out to give his cracked ribs another week to heal.

“We’re going to be very smart with Luke. We’re going to weigh all the possibilities. And the other thing to look at, too, is who we play coming up,” Rivera said. “We’ve got four conference games and two division games. So we really have to think.”

After the Texans, the Panthers face NFC South rivals New Orleans and Tampa Bay, followed by games against Seattle and Philadelphia.

All games matter. Some matter more.

But what should matter most is Kuechly’s long-term health.

Studies have shown that athletes who suffer a concussion are four to six times more likely to suffer a second concussion.

Brown, a second-year wideout, said his concussion against the Packers was the second of his life. He also had one at Ohio State, and played the following week.

I asked Brown this week if he was concerned about any long-term effects from the head injuries.

“I think I’ll be all right,” he said. “I hope so.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 5:41 PM with the headline "No-brainer: Carolina Panthers should sit Luke Kuechly, even if he’s cleared."