Arbitrator upholds salary cap penalties to Cowboys, Redskins
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Tom Brady's concerned dad: NFL becoming 'Russian roulette'

By Nate Davis, USA TODAY

UPDATE, 6:15 p.m. ET: Brady Sr., who is vacationing in Prague, spoke to USA TODAY Sports' Tom Pedulla on Tuesday to expound on his remarks about concussions and their impact on kids who play football.

"I subscribe to kids playing football, but I don't really subscribe to them playing until they are developed. That usually doesn't happen until 14 years of age," said Brady Sr., who didn't allow Tom Brady to begin playing football until he was 14 when his son expressed interest in the game.

"We still would be on board with (that decision). I don't know that we would have been on board with it when he was 7."

To Brady Sr.'s knowledge, his son has suffered one concussion, and he has "miniscule worries at this time" regarding the future for the 12-year NFL veteran.

"What we've seen, frankly, is that guys on the defensive side of the ball have had the most serious impact," said Brady Sr. "There seems to be some cause and effect there. I don't know that I've seen it on the offensive side."


New England Patriots QB Tom Brady told Sports Illustrated's Peter King last week, "I love the game. I'm going to play until they tell me they don't want me anymore."

Coming from a player soon to turn 35, it was a definitive statement about his future NFL plans at a time when concussions have cast a pall over players' long-term viability in the league.

But as it turns out, Brady may have never had the chance to express such a sentiment had he been born 15 or 20 years later.

"I would be very hesitant to let him play," Tom Brady Sr. tells Yahoo!'s Michael Silver about his current willingness as a father to allow his son to participate in football even as the NFL tries to adopt more stringent measures to combat the effects of concussions. Hundreds of former players are suing the league for allegedly being kept in the dark about head injuries while prominent retirees like Junior Seau and Dave Duerson ended their lives in episodes that have been speculatively linked to years of head trauma.

"This head thing is frightening for little kids. There's the physical part of it and the mental part -- it's becoming very clear there are very serious long-term ramifications," said Brady Sr., who wouldn't let his son play football until he was 14 and had hoped baseball would be his sport of choice.

He also defended former NFL QB Kurt Warner, who's recently expressed misgivings about allowing his kids to play football.

"I think Kurt Warner is 100% correct," said Brady Sr. "He's there to protect his children, and these other people who are weighing in are not addressing the issue of whether it's safe or not for kids. All this stuff about, 'He made his fame and fortune off of football,' that's true -- but we didn't know then what we know now. Apparently, they don't take their own parenting responsibility very seriously, or they don't value their children's health as much as they should."

And Brady Sr. remains worried for his son, a two-time league and Super Bowl MVP and one of the faces of the NFL.

"Absolutely," Brady Sr. said. "That never goes away. The answer is yes, I'm concerned. He claims that he's only been dinged once or twice, but I don't know how forthright he's being. He's not gonna tell us, as his parents, anything negative that's going on. I wouldn't be shocked that he would hide that.

"There are distinct personality changes that go along with head trauma. In the old days, it was conjecture. I don't think it's conjecture anymore. And it's Russian roulette. Different people respond differently. Maybe one person avoids it, but not everyone."

Arbitrator upholds salary cap penalties to Cowboys, Redskins