The game will evolve like it always has. 100+ years ago, TR got personally involved when people were getting killed by skull fractures in the leather-helmet era.
Ultimately, though, people want to play rough games and hit each other. John Urschel, who’s now a math prof at MIT, flat-out admitted that he played NFL football because he loved to hit people and be hit. Society needs acceptable and controlled outlets for young male aggression.
We can’t wrap football players in bubble wrap to keep them safe any more than we can aviators. All we can do in both cases is try to keep the risk level down to an acceptably low—but still non-zero—level.
