MATT HASSELBECK TOOK THE HITS. NOW HE'S TAKING ON CTE'S BIGGEST MYSTERY.
PHOENIX — Matt Hasselbeck spent 17 NFL seasons taking hits that would rattle a lesser mortal. He survived Boston College, a childhood full of sports, and more than two decades of collisions. Now, at 50, he's stepping into a new kind of huddle — one filled with brain scans, blood draws and the biggest question football still hasn't answered: Can CTE be diagnosed before death?
Right now, the answer is no. CTE can only be confirmed after death. Hasselbeck wants to change that.
A New Game Plan
Hasselbeck recently spent two days at Boston University, running a gauntlet of tests designed to measure the invisible damage of football. The three-time Pro Bowl QB counted backward from 100 by sevens. He recited the alphabet backward. He gave blood, took an MRI and went through a PET scan that maps brain function. The procedures were eye-opening and humbling.
“I’ve got a healthy respect for people who are dealing with serious brain trauma, whether it’s tumors or cancer,” Hasselbeck said. “I walked in there feeling completely healthy, and you still get a little anxious when you’re doing a brain scan, an MRI. You come out, and you’re looking at your brain.”
He’s also donating his brain to research after he dies.
Why a QB Is Stepping Up
Quarterbacks don’t take the same punishment as the big guys in the trenches. Hasselbeck knows that. But he also knows plenty of teammates who did.
“They need guys like me. They need people who are feeling good to step up to the plate and volunteer,” Hasselbeck said. “I played quarterback, so I didn’t take some of the hits that a lot of my teammates took. But the guys who were blocking for me, or playing special teams, or trying to get the ball back for me on defense, I wanted to do something. They had my back, so in a way I’d like to have their back.”
Before he even reached college, Hasselbeck says he had three concussions: one in football, one on the basketball court and one while goofing around on ice skates. He had a few more during college and the pros, though he can’t pin down an exact number because the old locker-room code was simple: say you're fine and get back out there.
The Living Diagnosis Quest
CTE has been linked to memory loss, depression, violent mood swings and other issues. More than 100 former NFL players have been diagnosed after death, including Junior Seau, Ken Stabler and Aaron Hernandez. But no one has been able to catch it while they're still alive.
Dr. Michael Alosco, co-director of clinical research at the Boston University CTE Center, is running the study with sites in California, Arizona, Texas and Florida. He’s hunting for a biomarker that separates CTE from Alzheimer’s, because too many symptoms look the same.
“We’ve applied what we’ve known worked for Alzheimer’s disease, but we’ve learned it does not work for CTE,” Alosco said. “We’ve really got to push discovery efforts and find the marker that’s specific to the protein of CTE versus Alzheimer’s because they’re different.”
Nicholas Ashton, the principal investigator in Phoenix, said about 10 patients have already joined at the Arizona site. Diagnosing CTE in a living person is currently mostly guesswork, he said.
“The more people involved, the more information we get and the closer we get to an answer,” Ashton said. “Treatments exploded with Alzheimer’s once we were able to accurately diagnose. We’re trying to get to the same spot with CTE.”
Not Just a Star’s Fight
You don’t have to be a Pro Bowler to join this cause. Bryan Savage, 56, a former linebacker at Division III Union College, traveled to Boston for the study and has also committed to donating his brain. He’s dealt with depression and ADHD in recent years and wonders if football played a part.
“I was interested because of some of the things that I’ve gone through physically and mentally,” Savage said. “You wonder if it’s just getting older, a midlife crisis or if it’s related to any brain trauma I might have had playing football.”
Savage said his brain scans look normal for a man in his mid-50s — a relief. Now he’s urging former teammates to join him.
What’s Next
The National Institutes of Health is backing the research with $15 million awarded in 2025. Alosco believes a living diagnosis isn’t a distant dream.
“I’m really hopeful about detecting CTE. I don’t think that’s too distant. Once we can accurately diagnose, that’s when we can start some treatment trials.”
Hasselbeck, who played for the Packers, Seahawks, Titans and Colts from 1998 to 2015, also spent years as an ESPN analyst. He’s proud of how much football has changed on head injuries, and he hopes this study keeps the momentum going.
“I’ve always had a passion for making the game safer,” Hasselbeck said. “I love football. One of the things I’m most proud of as an NFL guy is not just as a player, but the entire time I worked with the league and NFLPA for ways to make the game safer.”