The NFL claims the number of concussions dropped by 29 percent in 2018 from the previous season.

There were 135 documented concussions, which is down from 190.

Of the 538 evaluations for concussions, the league says, 75 percent ultimately showed no concussions.

“As we like to say,” noted Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of health and safety, “while we’re pleased with the fact that concussion numbers are down — and down significantly this year — when it comes to the health and safety of our players, there’s no finish line. This is a multi-year process. We’ll keep at this and we’ll try to figure out why these changes happened, and we’ll try to figure out where we set goals. There’s still room for improvement.”

The NFL no longer has general liability insurance covering head trauma.

There is now also just one carrier willing to provide workers' compensation to NFL teams.

Before concussion litigation roiled the NFL beginning in 2011, at least a dozen carriers occupied the insurance market for pro football, according to industry experts.

While some people have said football will never go away, it is difficult to see how the youth levels can survive without insurance.

Dr. Julian Bailes, Pop Warner's medical director and a member of the NFL's Head, Neck and Spine Committee, told Outside the Lines "insurance coverage is arguably the biggest threat to the sport."

Some insurance industry executives compare the issue to asbestos, an occupational hazard that has cost insurers at least $100 billion. 

The NFL has abruptly dropped its plan to challenge approved dementia diagnoses in a concussion case.

Lawyers from the players are accusing the NFL of trying to delay payments and rewrite the $1 billion settlement.

The NFL had asked to challenge some diagnoses made by settlement-approved doctors and upheld by a court-appointed administrator whose decisions are supposed to be final. 

The NFL argued that it had agreed to remove a $765 million cap on payouts only in exchange for “a clear demarcation of the boundary between compensable and non-compensable levels of impairment.”

An investigation conducted jointly by the NFL and NFLPA has determined there's no evidence Eric Reid was targeted for the drug testing program.

Reid claimed after a Dec. 17 loss to New Orleans that he'd been selected for testing for the seventh time since signing with Carolina in late September. 

Reid implied he was targeted due to his collusion case against the NFL. Reid was the first player to join Colin Kaepernick in kneeling during the anthem.

"I guess there was something about some mathematician saying it's highly improbable, but definitely possible," Ron Rivera said after Reid said he was tested a seventh time. "But I'll say this: If my name came up that many times, I'd buy a lottery ticket."

ABC is internally considering pursuing the NFL Sunday package currently held by CBS or FOX.

CBS televises the Sunday games of the AFC, while FOX owns the NFC games.

In addition to the games on Sundays, ABC would also pick up a Conference Championship Game and an extra Super Bowl per cycle.

The current deals with FOX and CBS don't expire until 2022.

Additionally, NBC's Sunday Night package is up in 2022 while ESPN's Monday Night Football deal expires after 2021.

Disney would like to attract more male viewers to their network.

Sunday's playoff game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears drew a 22.9/40 metered market, which is the highest rating of any show since Super Bowl LII in February.

There were an estimated 37.7 million people watching the final hour of the game.

The game was up 12 percent from last year's Saints-Panthers game in the same time slot.

The opening round collectively averaged 28.4 million viewers.