Chicago Bears strong safety Jaquan Brisker is leaving no room for doubt about his return to the field in 2025 after missing most of last year with a concussion.
Brisker has been diagnosed with a concussion in each of his first three seasons in the NFL, suffering his most recent in Week 5's win over the Carolina Panthers last October and missing the final 12 games of the regular season for Chicago.
Naturally, Brisker's history with concussion has raised some red flags about both his short-term and long-term health moving forward with the Bears.
In an exclusive interview with Casino Beats' Kyle Odegard, though, Brisker said he feels "great" about his health looking ahead to the 2025 season and that his concussion history "really doesn't concern me at all" after talks with his doctors.
"I can't wait to show the world what's coming," Brisker said, via Casino Beats. "Everybody's writing me off right now, but that's when I'm at my best."
Brisker took an unusually long amount of time to pass the concussion protocol after his most recent injury, but he said the type of concussion he had forced him to "retrain" his nervous system and contributed to his prolonged absence.
Brisker added he eventually passed the protocol late in the year, but the Bears had already been eliminated from the playoffs and decided to keep him out.
"That is why I took so long," Brisker said. "It wasn't my brain, it wasn't my head. It was really my nervous system, and once I retrained that, I felt great."
Jaquan Brisker made Tommy Tremble log-off pic.twitter.com/mSDdSsPHYV
— Jake Knows Ball (@_JakeKnowsBall_) October 6, 2024
Now, Brisker has his eyes on making a triumphant return for the Bears in 2025.
When healthy, Brisker has been a burgeoning star. He recorded more than 100 tackles in each of his first two seasons and was on pace through the first five games of 2024 to have a career season before his concussion derailed him.
The first step, of course, will be staying healthy and avoiding more concussions. Brisker said he plans to slightly adjust his game to play "cleaner" to help himself out in that regard, but he promised that "people are still gonna get hit."
If Brisker can do that, though, he feels he can reach an All-Pro level.
"Every single year, I was going like that, and then something happened," Brisker said of his previous concussions. "But we fixed that this year. It won't happen in the future. So to me, to everyone - the coaches around the league are always giving me great dialogue - as long as I stay healthy, it's going to be All-Pro."
