Kelly Stafford is “not ok” after the Rams announced on Wednesday that her husband, quarterback Matthew Stafford, was placed in the NFL concussion protocol.
After coach Sean McVay shared the news in a press conference, Kelly posted on the Instagram Story of her “Morning After” podcast that she feels “concerned, angry, sad, and tired” about the news.
“If you follow NFL, you just heard Matthew got put into concussion protocol,” she wrote. “If you have listened to my podcast at all, you know how big a deal it is to me. The head is not something to be messed with… and I hope as this sport develops, so does the concern for head health and the research around it.
“And no, I’m not ok. I have every emotion running through me. Concerned, angry, sad, tired… all of them.”
McVay said Stafford entered the protocol Tuesday after the team’s medical staff did their “cleanup after the game” and “determined that they felt like that was the best thing for him.”
Kelly has been open about her concerns with head injuries in football players. Last month, she broke down in tears on her podcast while discussing Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion situation.
“Now I’m terrified because he has four little girls who need him, and I need a husband who has all of his brain power because I lose my s–t a lot with my kids and he’s the patient one,” Kelly said during the episode. “I’m sorry, I continue to cry. It just scares the f–k out of me. And watching it happen with Tua, my heart broke for his family who is sitting there watching it.”
In 2019, Kelly underwent a successful 12-hour surgery for a brain tumor, which “Good Morning America” described as an acoustic neuroma in her cranial nerves.
The couple, who married in 2015, have four daughters: 5-year-old twins Chandler and Sawyer, Hunter, 4, and Tyler, 2.
Kelly’s note on Wednesday came after she took to Instagram the day prior to repost a tweet by Packers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who expressed concern over players getting injured on turf.
Campbell’s tweet read: “This is two weeks in a row we’ve had players get injured on turf fields. I think it’s time y’all take some of the money y’all make off us and invest in grass fields for every team around the league. The turf is literally like concrete it has no give when you plant @NFL.”
In the caption of her Instagram post, Kelly urged the NFL to act on the turf issue.
“Yes. Yes. Yes. One million yes’s,” she wrote. “There should be no more turf for the health of these players. Not just their limbs, but more importantly their head health. There is a big difference when a helmet hits grass than when it hits turf.
“If the nfl won’t mandate it or owners are not willing to do it, then guarantee player contracts, so if injury does occur due to negligence, they are taken care of.
Matthew’s generation will probably never see this change..but for the health of these future players, @nfl needs to get this done.”
