Kevin Kolb Is Still Messed Up From Concussions

Former NFL quarterback Kevin Kolb gives The MMQB an as-told-to today, and it's weird to think of him as a "former" anything already. But a series of concussions ended his career and righteously fucked with his body and his brain, and it sounds like a good thing he called it quits when he did.

Kolb recalls the precise moment he knew he was done: on his 29th birthday, a knee to the back of his helmet in a 2013 preseason game for the Bills. He finished the possession, and then his career was over. It was at least his fourth concussion. Here's how he describes his life, more than a year later.

The ringing is like someone shooting a shotgun right next to my ear, every second of every day. It doesn't go away.

The sensitivity to light also has a profound impact. I'll be in a business meeting indoors and have to politely ask to put on my sunglasses before the headaches and double vision start.

But I can deal with those symptoms. The short-term memory loss is more difficult. Sometimes I don't know if I'm just busy with a very full schedule and that's why I can't remember everything, or if it's a concussion symptom.

Kolb doesn't blame football, and seems at peace with things—he credits his religious faith for that. But I guess the occasional 30-year-old man having to live the rest of his life like this is just the cost of doing business.

[ MMQB]