Life With Cognitive-Communication Deficits After the NFL: A First-Person Narrative

PURPOSE: This article presents a co-authored, first-person narrative that offers an intimate look at the long-term cognitive-communication consequences of repetitive head impacts sustained during a professional football career. Through the lived experiences of former National Football League cornerback D.J. Johnson, and with light annotation from peer-reviewed literature, the narrative illustrates how concussion and traumatic brain injury can affect memory, speech, and everyday participation years after retirement. KEY INSIGHTS: Johnson describes progressive word-finding difficulty, slowed and effortful speech, memory lapses, and episodes of disorientation that disrupted daily life and professional work in acting and sports broadcasting. He underwent medical evaluation and intensive speech-language therapy with treatment focused solely on dysarthria after receiving a diagnosis. Although cognitive-communication difficulties were present, no targeted intervention were provided for these concerns, and his communication challenges continued to fluctuate over time. CONCLUSIONS: This viewpoint highlights how repetitive head impacts sustained during professional football can contribute to chronic cognitive-communication deficits well beyond an athlete's playing years. First-person clinical narratives can complement traditional research by revealing subtle, evolving impairments, supporting earlier recognition of postconcussion sequelae, and underscoring the need for long-term, individualized speech-language pathology services.