The Rise in NFL Neck Injuries – a Neurosurgeon’s Opinion

This article originally appeared in The Neurotransmitter, Dr. Grunch’s weekly newsletter.

On the first play of the fourth quarter Sunday, Lions linebacker Jack Campbell made what looked like an ordinary tackle on Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson. Then he stayed down, face first on the turf, and went limp. [1][2]

If you were watching, your stomach probably dropped. His teammates gathered around him, and about ten minutes passed before the staff strapped him to a backboard and carted him off to applause. [1][2] Ten minutes feels endless when someone is lying there. It’s also what the system looks like when it’s working.

I’m a spine surgeon and a daughter to someone who was quadriplegic and suffered a similar injury – so I am going to break all of this down.

What we know about Jack Campbell, and what we don’t

Detroit won 19-15. Campbell, a 26-year-old All-Pro, went to a local hospital and stayed overnight for monitoring. [1] Head coach Dan Campbell said he was alert and breathing when he left the field. [3] That’s the public record. As I write this, the team hasn’t released a diagnosis or prognosis. Today, the head coach said news was “positive” and that’s all that was announced.

Neck injuries can look identical in the first minutes and end very differently. Some players who go limp have a bruised cord that recovers. Some who walk off have a broken bone. The first minutes can’t tell anyone the ending.

His wife and their four-month-old son were at the game. [3] I’ve waited in a hospital hallway for news about someone I love, so I’m thinking about them.

The word you’ll keep hearing: hyperextension

Picture your neck as a stack of seven blocks balancing a bowling ball, your ten-to-twelve-pound head. A cable runs through a hole in the middle of the stack. That’s your spinal cord, the main line between brain and body. Ligaments, discs, and muscles are the guy wires that keep the stack steady.

Hyperextension means the head gets forced backward past where the neck is built to go. When that happens, the cable can get squeezed from both sides. A bulging disc or bone spur pushes from the front while a thick ligament in the back buckles inward. [4][5] Think of a garden hose caught in a closing door.

How much damage that does depends on the force and on how much room the cord had to begin with. If the spinal canal is narrow, the cord can be injured without a single broken bone. One pattern is called central cord syndrome. It tends to weaken the arms and hands more than the legs, and many people recover meaningful function. [4][5] I covered it in my September spinal cord injury issue.

Hyperextension is one of several ways a football neck gets hurt. Others include forcing the chin to the chest (hyperflexion) and driving the top of the head straight down the spine (axial loading), and any of the three can injure the cord. [6] You may see hyperextension in reports about hits like this one.

What the medical team does in those ten minutes

Nobody on that field is stalling. The national athletic trainers’ guideline says an athlete who is knocked out, has symptoms on both sides of the body, has significant midline neck pain, or has an obvious deformity is treated as having a spine injury until proven otherwise. [7] Hands go on the head to keep the neck in a straight line, the airway gets checked, and the player doesn’t move until there are enough trained people to move him as one piece. [7]

Moving too fast is the danger. A spinal cord can be hurt further by movement in the first minutes after an injury. [7] So the slow, careful scene you watched is the safe version of the story.

At the hospital, the team checks strength and feeling in every limb, then images the bones with a CT scan and usually the cord, discs, and ligaments with an MRI. An overnight stay for monitoring is standard care. It isn’t good news or bad news by itself.

If you ever see someone go down after a hit to the head or neck, at a game, a pool, or off a ladder, your job is simple. Call 911. Tell the person not to move and don’t move them yourself. If they’re wearing a helmet, leave it on. Keep talking to them until trained people take over. [7]

A season of neck scares

Campbell isn’t the first player this year to leave a field with his head held still. These are the cases that made headlines, with what’s been reported so far. It isn’t an official league count. Teams rarely share details, and “neck” on an injury report can mean anything from a strained muscle to surgery.

· Jayden Reed, Packers wide receiver. Hurt on Green Bay’s second offensive play at the Jets on Sept. 20. He left on a backboard, stayed overnight, and had movement in all his limbs. Early reports said neck, then back. On Sept. 30, coach Matt LaFleur announced season-ending neck surgery and said he doesn’t believe it’s career-ending. [8]

· Will Johnson, Cardinals cornerback. Left late in the fourth quarter against Seattle on Sept. 20. His coach said he could miss the season but didn’t expect surgery, and Arizona put him on injured reserve three days later. [9]

· Chip Trayanum, Jets running back. Left an Aug. 28 preseason game in a neck brace on a backboard, awake, alert, and moving all his limbs. Early scans were negative. [10] An injury tracker now lists him on injured reserve with a neck designation, out for the season. I couldn’t find a public diagnosis. [11]

· Leo Chenal, Commanders linebacker. He suffered a fractured neck during the second quarter of a 33-31 win against the Seattle Seahawks on September 27, 2026. Underwent season-ending neck surgery in September 2026 (replacing vertebrae with titanium) after suffering a neck injury against the Seattle Seahawks.

· Nnamdi Madubuike, Ravens Defensive tackle. Underwent neck surgery in April 2026 to recover from a serious neck injury suffered during the 2025 season.

· Three more away from games. Seahawks fullback Robbie Ouzts went on injured reserve in August with a neck injury, after dealing with one going into the Super Bowl. [12] Cowboys lineman Matt Hennessy had neck surgery after spring workouts and is out for the year. [13] Packers tight end Luke Musgrave hurt his neck at June minicamp, and in late October his coach couldn’t say whether he’d play this season. [14]

What the numbers say

For the bigger picture, a 2023 study counted every NFL player placed on injured reserve for a neck injury from 2016 through 2021. That was 464 players. Nearly 88% had injuries that didn’t end their season, and those players were back in about nine days on average. About 8% lost the season, with an average return near a year. Twenty-one players, about 4.5%, had career-ending injuries. Defensive backs were hurt most often. [15]

The study counts only injuries serious enough for injured reserve, so minor ones are missing. Among the 38 injuries with usable video, nearly 40% came from head-to-head contact and almost 29% from head-down tackling. [15] Those two habits come up again below.

How rare is the worst outcome?

The scariest result is a permanent spinal cord injury, and football has changed that story. In the early 1970s, high school and college football produced about 20 serious cervical cord injuries a year, and researchers counted 34 in 1976. [16] After rules banned spearing and leading with the top of the helmet, that fell to five by 1984. [17] The latest national report counted four cervical cord injuries with incomplete recovery in school and college football in 2024. [16]

That drop came mostly from changing how players hit. The athletic trainers’ position statement says helmets and pads don’t prevent axial-loading injuries, which is why technique matters so much. [18]

What actually protects a football player’s neck

Keep the head up

The main cause of catastrophic neck injuries in football is axial loading. That’s driving the top of the helmet into something and sending the force straight down the spine. [18][17] A neck has a natural curve that helps absorb force. Drop the head and the curve flattens into a straighter column, and a straight column takes a hit like a stack of blocks instead of a spring.

The athletic trainers’ statement says injuries from head-down contact are technique-related and preventable to the extent that head-down contact can be prevented. [18] Head-up tackling means eyes up, head beside the ball carrier instead of in front of him, and contact with the chest and shoulder. A Texas film study found head-up, inside-shoulder tackles worked 97.5% to 99.5% of the time across youth, middle school, and high school teams. Yet 75% to 83% of coaches in the same study said they preferred to teach the riskier “head across the bow” technique. [19]

Rules only work when they’re enforced

The NFL has made it a foul to lower the head and hit with the helmet since 2018. But in 2022 the league issued 229 fines and warnings for it and only four penalties were called in games. [20] The athletic trainers’ 2022 update says head-first contact is still common and asks for consistent enforcement at every level, plus teaching safer techniques before a player’s first tackle. [21]

Rugby-style tackling: promising, not proven

Rugby-style tackling, where players lead with the shoulder and wrap up, is being taught more and more. A small 2019 study found rugby players took fewer and softer head impacts than football players, but it compared two different games. [22] Nobody has shown yet that it prevents neck injuries in football.

Neck strength: reasonable, but oversold

I get asked about neck strengthening constantly. A professional rugby team that added an isometric neck program saw match neck injuries drop from 11 in one season to 2 in the next. Total neck injuries and days lost didn’t change significantly, and the study was small and looked backward. [23] A 2021 systematic review of adult athletes found only three eligible studies, and none showed an effect on cervical spine injuries. [24]

My take: build a strong neck, especially for strains and stingers. But I wouldn’t count on muscle alone to protect a neck that takes a hit head-down, and I won’t tell you it prevents paralysis.

Be ready, and speak up

Every team needs a rehearsed emergency plan and trained medical staff at practices and games. [7]

Players also have to speak up. One study of high school and college football found 43 players over 13 years with a temporary cord problem called cervical cord neurapraxia, which can follow hyperflexion, hyperextension, or axial force. Sixteen returned to football and none had a permanent injury. [6] Whether a player goes back is a decision for a spine specialist after a full workup, never for a coach or a player’s pride.

See a doctor right away if…

After any hit to the head or neck, call 911 or go to the emergency department right away if there’s:

· Numbness, tingling, burning, or weakness in more than one limb, or in an arm and a leg

· Pain in the middle of the neck, especially a sharp or tender spot over the bone

· Loss of consciousness or confusion, even for a moment

· Trouble breathing, or loss of bladder or bowel control

· A neck that looks out of line, or not being able to hold the head up

Until help arrives, stay still. Nobody should walk it off.

What you can do, and questions to ask

· Parents: ask the coach how tackling is taught. “Do you teach head-up, shoulder-first tackling from the first practice?” is a fair question. If your child has a neck injury, ask the doctor exactly when return to contact is safe.

· Ask about the plan: is a trained athletic trainer at practices and games, and is there a written emergency plan?

· Players: eyes up, see what you hit, and never lead with the crown of the helmet. Add neck strengthening with a trainer’s guidance, as a supplement to technique.

· If you don’t play football: the same forces show up in shallow-water dives, falls, and car crashes. Check the water depth, wear your seat belt, and fall-proof your home.

Key takeaways

· As I write this, the Lions haven’t released a diagnosis for Jack Campbell. The slow, careful scene on the field is the safest way to handle a possible spine injury.

· “Neck injury” covers a huge range. About 88% of NFL neck injuries on injured reserve from 2016 to 2021 didn’t end the season, and those players returned in about nine days on average.

· Football cut serious cervical cord injuries from 34 in 1976 to 5 in 1984 by changing how players hit.

· Head-up, shoulder-first tackling has the best support. Neck strengthening is reasonable but unproven for preventing serious injury.

· Tingling, burning, or weakness in more than one limb after a hit means stop and get checked.

I’m thinking about Jack, his family, and the teammates who watched it happen.

Learn more about how we evaluate and treat neck problems, including spinal cord injury, vertebral fractures, and cervical myelopathy, on our Conditions We Treat page.

References

1. Lions linebacker Jack Campbell placed on backboard, carted off vs. Vikings. ESPN. November 1, 2026. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/50350934/lions-linebacker-jack-campbell-placed-backboard-carted-off

2. Lions’ Jack Campbell placed on backboard, carted off field after suffering serious injury. CBS Sports. November 1, 2026. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/lions-jack-campbell-injury-updates-vikings/

3. Lions’ Jack Campbell hospitalized with neck injury: live updates. The Detroit News. November 2, 2026. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2026/11/02/jack-campbell-detroit-lions-news-today-neck-injury-live-updates-minnesota-vikings–live/92558348007/

4. Central Cord Syndrome. StatPearls. Updated April 20, 2026. https://www.statpearls.com/point-of-care/19123

5. Divi SN, Schroeder GD, Mangan JJ, et al. Management of acute traumatic central cord syndrome: a narrative review. Global Spine J. 2019;9(1 Suppl):89S-97S. doi:10.1177/2192568219830943

6. Boden BP, Tacchetti RL, Cantu RC, Knowles SB, Mueller FO. Catastrophic cervical spine injuries in high school and college football players. Am J Sports Med. 2006;34(8):1223-1232.

7. Swartz EE, Boden BP, Courson RW, et al. National Athletic Trainers’ Association position statement: acute management of the cervical spine-injured athlete. J Athl Train. 2009;44(3):306-331. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-44.3.306

8. Packers WR Jayden Reed reportedly has back injury, returning to Green Bay for further evaluation. Yahoo Sports. September 21, 2026. https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/breaking-news/article/packers-wr-jayden-reed-staying-in-new-york-overnight-with-neck-injury-has-movement-in-his-extremities-rt-zach-bako-bewele-could-be-out-for-a-long-time-172252975.html. See also: Jayden Reed injury update, Packers WR’s timeline to return after surgery decision. Bleacher Report. September 30, 2026. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25505018-jayden-reed-injury-update-packers-wrs-timeline-return-after-surgery-decision

9. Cardinals CB Will Johnson has a neck injury that could end his season. Pro Football Talk (NBC Sports). September 21, 2026. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/cardinals-cb-will-johnson-has-a-neck-injury-that-could-end-his-season. See also: Cardinals put CB Will Johnson on injured reserve. Pro Football Talk. September 23, 2026. https://nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/cardinals-put-cb-will-johnson-on-injured-reserve

10. Jets’ Chip Trayanum hospitalized with neck injury after early TD in 23-6 preseason loss to Giants. Associated Press. August 28, 2026. https://abcnews.com/Sports/wireStory/jets-chip-trayanum-hospitalized-neck-injury-after-early-136050057. Early scan report (ESPN’s Rick Cimini) summarized at: https://www.essentiallysports.com/ncaa-college-football-news-fformer-ohio-state-player-leaves-football-field-on-stretcher-after-neck-injury-scare/

11. NFL IR tracker 2026: every player on injured reserve. Sharp Football Analysis. Accessed November 2, 2026. https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/analysis/nfl-injury-report-ir-tracker/

12. Seahawks place Robbie Ouzts (neck) on IR. NBC Sports Rotoworld. August 11, 2026. https://www.nbcsports.com/fantasy/football/player-news/2026-08-11/seahawks-place-robbie-ouzts-neck-on-ir

13. Cowboys moving Matt Hennessy to season-ending IR. DallasCowboys.com. June 18, 2026. https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/cowboys-moving-matt-hennessy-to-season-ending-ir

14. Luke Musgrave’s 2026 return is in doubt: Packers TE and fantasy impact. Football Nation USA. October 23, 2026. https://www.footballnationusa.com/post/luke-musgrave-s-2026-return-is-in-doubt-packers-te-and-fantasy-impact

15. Dow B, Doucet D, Vemu SM, Boddapati V, Marco RAW, Hirase T. Characterizing neck injuries in the National Football League: a descriptive epidemiology study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2023;24:702. doi:10.1186/s12891-023-06830-y

16. Kucera KL, Cantu RC. Annual survey of catastrophic football injuries, 1977-2024. National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Report 2025-02. June 24, 2025. https://nccsir.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5614/2024/10/Annual-Football-Catastrophic-2024-FINAL-WEB-1.pdf

17. Torg JS, Vegso JJ, Sennett B, Das M. The National Football Head and Neck Injury Registry: 14-year report on cervical quadriplegia, 1971 through 1984. JAMA. 1985;254(24):3439-3443. doi:10.1001/jama.1985.03360240051033

18. Heck JF, Clarke KS, Peterson TR, Torg JS, Weis MP. National Athletic Trainers’ Association position statement: head-down contact and spearing in tackle football. J Athl Train. 2004;39(1):101-111.

19. Stockwell DW, Blalock R, Podell K, Marco RAW. At-risk tackling techniques in American football. Orthop J Sports Med. 2020;8(2):2325967120902714. doi:10.1177/2325967120902714

20. NFL rolls out more revisions to the lowering the helmet rule. Pro Football Talk (NBC Sports). 2023. https://nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/nfl-rolls-out-more-revisions-to-the-lowering-the-helmet-rule

21. Swartz EE, et al. National Athletic Trainers’ Association position statement: reducing intentional head-first contact behavior in American football players. J Athl Train. 2022;57(2):113-124. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-0062.21

22. Rugby-style tackling may lower risk of concussions in football. HealthDay News (via UPI). August 5, 2019. https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2019/08/05/Rugby-style-tackling-may-lower-risk-of-concussions-in-football/4451565034477/

23. Naish R, Burnett A, Burrows S, Andrews W, Appleby B. Can a specific neck strengthening program decrease cervical spine injuries in a men’s professional rugby union team? A retrospective analysis. J Sports Sci Med. 2013;12(3):542-550.

24. Daly E, Pearce AJ, Ryan L. A systematic review of strength and conditioning protocols for improving neck strength and reducing concussion incidence and impact injury risk in collision sports; is there evidence? J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2021;6(1):8.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not replace individualized care from a licensed physician. If you have symptoms or questions about your own health, please consult your healthcare provider. If you think you are having a medical emergency, call 911.

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