By: Nick Roddy
Detroit Lions defensive tackle Haloti Ngata is entering his third season with the team, and 12th season in the NFL. He has noticed some wear and tear on his body through the years, and even said “I can tell I walk different now than I did when I was younger as a rookie. Your joints start to tighten up. Your muscles start to tighten up more, so you have to work a lot longer and harder on staying loose.”
But Ngata isn’t just concerned about his joints and muscles.
During his off-season, Ngata saw a neurologist at The CORE Institute in Brighton. “I went and talked with a neurologist, wanted to make sure my head was good. He said everything was pretty good, or really good actually.”
They performed brain scans and psychological tests on Ngata over the course of two weeks. They tested to see how his brain was functioning while working out, and at rest.
NFL players are becoming increasingly concerned with the long-term effects of concussions. Ngata has three sons, and wanted to make sure he was able to raise his kids if he kept playing football.
“You hear that stuff, and you don’t want, me especially, I don’t want to have problems [when I’m] older,” said Ngata. “I want to be able to raise my kids and be able to play with them when they’re older, and still be able to beat them in wrestling matches and stuff when they’re teenagers.”
Ngata said he has only had one diagnosed concussion in his NFL career.
Ngata’s agent, Mike McCartney, was the one who suggested to see the neurologist. “He’s always on us about taking care of our bodies, and making sure we’re doing things that can help us with stuff after our football career.”
There is no reason to believe that this will be Ngata’s last year in the league, though. He played last year at a slimmer 320 lbs., compared to about 345 lbs. in Baltimore.
When asked how long he thinks he will play, Ngata replied “it’s year to year. My family and I are in a great spot. If I’m banged up at the end of the year, you start to think about it. But if you feel great, and with the way Caldwell takes care of us here, I feel like I can play forever.”