Goodell positions NFL as leader in player safety, needs more info about CTE

Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke at length about CTE studies and player health on Thursday, positioning the NFL as a leader in trying to eradicate the degenerative brain disease.

Goodell highlighted the NFL's efforts to research CTE, but also revealed that the league - and the public at large - needs more information in combating this issue.

Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post released a transcript of Goodell's comments:

We appreciate the studies and we actually not only appreciate them, we funded a lot of these studies. What we all need is more information. There is one thing that is clear among this medical community is that we have a lot more questions than we have answers. We need more research and I think we have led the way on that front. We've not only led with research, but we've led with rule changes to our game, we've led on awareness to the injuries, we've led on how we can develop new equipment that will make our game safer for our players.

There's a new helmet coming out this year that came out of what we call the GE NFL Head Health Initiative. We put it out that - how do we use new materials, how do we use new technology to create a better helmet that's going to absorb the impact? And we have one that's hitting the market this year. It was developed by somebody in Seattle. It was funded with that money.

I think that because of that leadership, because we've taken responsibility to really manage the health and safety of our players that is going to be seen as 'Hey, they're doing the right things. Sure they have challenges, but so does every active sport.' What we're learning in our sport is helping every other sport.

Goodell's remarks will likely be viewed as contentious with the league failing to address the underlying causes of CTE for decades.