Former Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy told a congressional subcommittee Friday that the team tried to stifle him from publicly discussing the issue of brain injuries in football.
The Lions deny Levy’s claims.
Levy said that after the Detroit Free Press published a letter he wrote, titled “Scary that I may have CTE,” in March 2016, the Lions implored him to say no more.
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"The moment I said anything about it, I had two calls telling me that I shouldn't talk about it," Levy told the subcommittee, per the Free Press. "I wrote the paper and I was told not to talk about it the first day that it was out and I'm just like, it could have been just because locker room culture is nobody wants to talk about anything other than football, but it didn’t sit well with me when I’m talking about a brain injury."
In response to Levy’s testimony, the Lions said in a statement Friday, “We are aware of (Levy's) comments and we strongly disagree with his claim that anyone from our organization tried to silence him."
Giants Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson and Chris Nowinski, a former professional wrestler who co-founded the Concussion Legacy Foundation also testified during the forum on traumatic brain injuries that was hosted by Democratic members of the energy, commerce and judiciary committees, the Free Press notes.
Levy played for the Lions from 2009-16 before being released in March. He filed an injury grievance over his release, as he was recovering from knee surgery and was not paid a $1.75 million injury guarantee in his contract, according to the Free Press.
Levy also told the forum that he believes the federal government should formalize a warning about the dangers of playing football, and that the NFL should eliminate full-contact practices.
“I don't think we should be in any collisions other than on Sunday. It makes no sense,” he said, per mlive.com.
Levy also testified about NFL teams’ administering of pain medication. He said while teams are being more cautious with meds these days, he was able to get “Vicodin like Skittles” and “Toradol shots like it was nothing” early in his career.
“We don't talk about the effects of any of the drugs that we're getting. It's a 16-week season, people are trying to make it through. Doctor says it's alright, it's alright," Levy said.
Overall, Levy said NFL owners are not “in touch” with the head injury issue and that it’s not a topic teams want to discuss.
"I don't think the organization wants to put that in a player's head, that they can give themselves a degenerative brain disease," Levy said. "You don't want your players out there worrying about damaging their brain. That's not talked about."