Brett Favre Says He Suffered 'Thousands' of Concussions in NFL Career

Brett Favre is the NFL's ironman as he played in 321 consecutive games from 1992 to 2010. But playing for that long without taking any games off led to Favre suffering multiple injuries. While appearing on The Bubba Army radio show this week, the former Green Bay Packers quarterback and was asked how many concussions he suffered in his career. 

"Concussions happen all the time," Favre said, per TMZ Sports. "You get tackled and your head hits the turf, you see flashes of light or ringing in your ears but you're able to play — that's a concussion. So, based on that, [I've suffered] thousands. Had to be, because every time my head hit the turf, there was ringing or stars going, flash bulbs ... but I was still able to play."

During the regular season, Favre was sacked 525 times in the regular season. He said on the show that if he had gotten the concussion question a few years ago, he would have just said three but realized he suffered more after looking at recent studies on concussions. One of the most notable injuries to Favre happened in 2004 when he was playing against the New York Giants. He threw a pass to Javon Walker after hitting his head. 

"That's what's kind of frightening about the concussion thing — it's the ones that seem minor that do the damage 'cause you're able to play and keep going," Favre said.  This is one of the reasons why Favre is concerned about young kids playing tackle football. In August 2021, the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback appeared in a video for the Concussion Legacy Foundation and warned parents of brain injuries children can suffer if they play tackle football at a young age.

"Having kids play before high school is just not worth the risk," he said in a statement at the time. "CTE is a terrible disease, and we need to do everything we can to prevent it for the next generation of football players." Favre played for the Packers, Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings from 1991 to 2010. He was selected to the Pro Bowl 11 times, won the NFL MVP award three times and led the Packers to a Super Bowl title in 1996.