Bo Jackson on concussions: ‘I probably just would have played baseball’

Bo Jackson says if he had a choice, he would played just baseball.

Former two-sport star and former Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson says knowing what he knows now about concussions, he would have just played baseball, instead of playing football as well.

Jackson also said in an interview with The MMQB, that if he had young children that asked him if they could play football, he "would smack them in the mouth."

Jackson played for the Los Angeles Raiders for four seasons, rushing for 2,782 yards and 16 touchdowns, before being injured in a 1991 playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

He also played eight seasons of professional baseball for the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and Anaheim Angels, making the All-Star Game in 1989 and being named the game's MVP.

Jackson said he doesn't have any lingering efforts from playing football and is "fortunate," adding he only suffered one concussion in his career.

"If I had young kids, to be honest, and if they came and said, 'Dad, I want to play football,' I’d smack them in the mouth. No. No." Jackson said. "Because if I’d have known back then what I know now, to be honest with you, I probably would have taken a different path. I probably just would have played baseball."

Jackson, 53, says athletes today should "make as much as you can, as early as you can, as often as you can."

"I’d be making a $100 million in one sport, $100 million in another sport," he said. "That’s just the nature of the beast. NFL stands for any professional sport: Not For Long. You got to get it while you can."

- Scooby Axson