AP survey: Concussions not most NFL players' chief concern

During a 15-year NFL career that sent him pinballing over the middle of the field too many times to count, absorbing hits as wicked as they come, former Denver Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley endured injuries that literally ran from head to toe.

And while, by his own estimate, that included at least a dozen concussions, the only health issue that made him seriously contemplate quitting the game was a problem with a small bone in the middle of his foot in his fourth season.

"I told my wife, 'This is it. I'm done. I can't deal with this pain every day,'" Stokley said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Yet he pressed on. Eventually the foot pain subsided. The concussions? Those kept accumulating. Stokley, essentially, shrugged them off, despite the seemingly unending drumbeat of news about the dangers of head injuries. During his playing days, he was more worried about short-term effects than later-in-life ones.

"The thing with concussions is, usually, you're out a week or two, and then you're back fine," said Stokley, 39, who caught passes from one of this week's Super Bowl quarterbacks, Peyton Manning, while both were with the Broncos and, before that, the Indianapolis Colts. "But you mess your knee up, you're out a year. You mess your shoulder up, you're done for a year."

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