NFL total quarter back rating (QBR) is not decreased following sport related concussion injury

Abstract

Our hypothesis was that NFL quarterbacks, due to the high-risk nature of the position and social and financial pressures to return to play following SRC, return to play prematurely and, thus, their on-field performance suffers due to the nature of their injury. This study was a case–control study of a retrospective cohort of all NFL quarterbacks who were placed on the injury report for a concussion from 2006 to 2019. The data were compiled using publicly available information extracted from NFL transactions. Reportable injuries were based on the criteria that the injury necessitated a team physician referral or emergent care and resulted in scheduled team practice time being missed. Athletes injured in the pre-season or athletes who were injured and did not return to play during the regular were excluded from the study. There were 4 quarterbacks included in the study who suffered repeated concussions during separate seasons; repeated concussion in the same player was treated as two different data points. No quarterback included suffered multiple concussions within the same season. All active NFL quarterbacks injured during a regular season game were eligible for inclusion as age-matched controls. Quarterbacks included in the concussion injury cohort were excluded from the control group. The MEDCALC case–control matching procedure was used to randomly match cases and controls with a 1:1 allocation ratio, respectively, based on age (matching). There was no significant difference in age at injury, years in the NFL when injured, and weeks missed due to injury between the concussion and control groups. There was no statistically significant difference between average season QBR and weekly QBR for the first 6 weeks following return to play after an injury when comparing the concussion to control group. QBR in NFL quarterbacks’ did not decrease in the weeks returning from concussion when compared with age-matched control group. This finding was contrary to our hypothesis and suggests that a quarterback’s functional skill is not significantly affected by an SRC incident by the time he returns to play. Level III prognostic study, case–control study.