The alleged criminal behavior of former NFL tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. suggests he is possibly suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known as CTE. It is a diagnosis that can only be made by conducting an autopsy on a deceased person, so it is only speculation that Winslow has the rare condition, which is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma.
Some of the signs and symptoms of those who have been diagnosed with CTE are emotional instability, aggression, violent behavior and suicidal thoughts and behavior. The 34-year-old Winslow, who played for four teams in his 10-year NFL career after being selected with the sixth pick in the first-round by the Cleveland Browns in 2004, was arrested in Encinitas, Calif. last Thursday and pleaded not guilty one day later to multiple counts of rape and kidnapping, among other charges.
He is accused of raping a 54-year-old woman in March and a 59-year-old woman in May, in addition to breaking into the homes of a 71-year-old woman June 1 and an 86-year-old woman June 7. Winslow is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow Sr.
The younger Winslow’s family, including his parents and wife Janelle, issued a joint statement that reads, “On behalf of our son and my husband, we want to reiterate our love, support and affection for him during this difficult process. We will always be there for him and we know the true facts will come out.”
Distressingly, the true facts might land him in prison for the rest of his life, a similar outcome to that of Aaron Hernandez, another former NFL tight end who was convicted of murder in 2015 and sentenced to life without parole. Hernandez, 27, was found hanging in his cell in a Massachusetts prison in April 2017. His death was ruled a suicide.
Five months later, after carrying out an autopsy on Hernandez’s brain, the noted Boston University CTE Center revealed it had concluded he suffered from stage 3 CTE. The disease has four stages. At a news conference in November 2017, Ann McKee, director of BU’s CTE Center, said Hernandez had CTE at a level “we’ve never seen … in our 468 brains, except for individuals very much older.” McKee explained that people with a diagnosis comparable to Hernandez’s “…were at least 46 years old at the time of death.”
CTE does not justify Hernandez’s behavior or Winslow’s alleged actions if he also has the disease. It just begins to partly explain the fragility and complexity of the human brain and the potential tragedies related to its exposure to repeated trauma.