Link Between Football-related Head Trauma, CTE

The NFL's top health and safety officer acknowledged Monday there is a link between football-related head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE -- the first time a senior league official has conceded football's connection to the devastating brain disease.

The admission came during a roundtable discussion on concussions convened by the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce. Jeff Miller, the NFL's senior vice president for health and safety, was asked by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., if the link between football and neurodegenerative diseases like CTE has been established.

"The answer to that question is certainly yes," Miller said.

He said he based his assessment on the work of Dr. Ann McKee, a Boston University neuropathologist who has diagnosed CTE in the brains of 176 people, including those of 90 of 94 former NFL players. The disease can only be diagnosed after death.

"I think the broader point, and the one that your question gets to, is what that necessarily means, and where do we go from here with that information," Miller said, noting that little is known about the prevalence of the disease or the risk of incurring it.

In 2009, an NFL spokesman told the New York Times that it is "quite obvious from the medical research that's been done that concussions can lead to long-term problems." But when pressed by Congress and in interviews, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and other league representatives have for years avoided taking a position, repeating that the league would let the medical community decide. The league has never expressly linked playing football to CTE.

Steelers' Bryant Suspended For One Year

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant has been suspended for a minimum of one year for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy, the league announced Monday.

Bryant's suspension, which is without pay, begins immediately, the NFL said. He was scheduled to earn $600,000 in 2016.

General manager Kevin Colbert said the Steelers "are very disappointed" with Bryant for his suspension.

"He is at a crossroads of his professional life, and he needs to understand significant changes need to occur in his personal life if he wants to regain his career as a Pittsburgh Steeler," Colbert said.