Jerry Jones remains skeptical about football, brain trauma link

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones still isn't convinced that there's a link between playing football and brain trauma.

Jones has previously called the link between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) "absurd."

In "Football In America," a special report by Sports Illustrated's Greg Bishop and Michael McKnight, Jones echoed the sentiment.

"We’re drawing conclusions so far out in front of the facts," Jones says. "I can live with that, as long as we understand that I’ve seen milk and red meat (debated) for the last 30 years, whether they’re good for you or not."

Jones, who played football when he was younger, said his brain is very healthy.

"I recently I had a CAT scan done at MD Anderson Cancer Center (in Houston), under an assumed name. Afterward, the radiologist said, 'I noticed your age. The reason I came down,' and here he called me by my assumed name; he didn’t know who I was, 'was that you have the brain of a 40-year-old.' My other doctors were in the room; so was my wife. I’ve got some witnesses. The point is: I was a fullback and a pulling guard (at Arkansas). I used my head all the time, and I played football a long time. And that had no impact."

Jones pointed out that not only football, but other sports and other professions also include contact with the head, and cautioned against drastically changing football without gathering more information.

Jones did say that he supports some minor rule changes in the interest of making football safer, such as making face masks smaller to discourage players from leading with their heads on tackles.