Kellen Winslow Sr. recently reached $25,000 settlement over NFL brain injury claims

Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow Sr. reached a $24,750 settlement earlier this year to resolve a workers compensation case in which he claimed to have suffered brain and nervous system injuries from his NFL career with the San Diego Chargers from 1979-1988, according to records obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

Winslow, who turns 65 on Saturday, filed the case with the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board in early 2018, claiming to have sustained “repetitive traumas to his head resulting in cognitive and behavioral disorders.” He underwent extensive examinations as part of this claim, with one doctor attributing his complaints of headaches and cognitive disorder to his football career since high school.

Winslow also complained of significant depression and anxiety, as well as problems with his memory, according to the records. A scan of his brain “suggested evidence of organic brain damage,” said one report.

“However, the neuropsychological evaluation did not demonstrate any significant neurocognitive impairments,” said the report from psychologist Serina Hoover in February 2020.

Another doctor, psychiatrist Lawrence Warick, attributed most of Winslow's psychiatric issues to other non-football factors, such as the legal problems of his namesake son, who also suffered mental problems from head trauma in football, according to his attorneys. Kellen Winslow II, 39, pleaded guilty last year to rape and other sex crimes against five women and is currently in state prison in Tehachapi, California, after being sentenced to 14 years behind bars. Another son, Justin, died at age 23 after a drug overdose in 2006.

Winslow Sr. filed this case several months before his son was arrested in 2018. But Warick still highlighted these factors in his report of his psychiatric evaluation of Winslow Sr. in January 2020.

This report and others, obtained from public records, provide a glimpse into the physical and mental health of another aging former football star while also showing how difficult it can be to prove such mental health claims are linked to football alone.

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The case was settled between Winslow and the two defendants – the Chargers and the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA), an organization that pays covered claims for insolvent insurance carriers. The defendants disputed his claims but decided to settle with Winslow in June to avoid the costs and risks of further litigation, according to the agreement.

The conclusions of some doctors also apparently didn’t give Winslow much additional leverage for a larger settlement.

Warick said Winslow did not meet the requirement under the law to show his psychiatric injuries came from work injuries.

“Mr. Winslow did not sustain a psychiatric injury arising out of and caused by his work-related injuries,” Warick’s report stated from January 2020. “A preponderance of the evidence shows that greater than 51% of the cause of his psychiatric injury is not a result of the orthopedic injuries or claimed neurologic injuries.”

Warick also stated Winslow is not disabled on a psychiatric basis, noting then he was giving speeches and working then as an assistant to the president at Madonna University in Michigan.

Significant non-football factors

But Warick did state Winslow may have a mood disorder due to his orthopedic problems and chronic pain. Additionally, he wrote that Winslow has dysthymia with bereavement, generally described as persistent low mood.

“It is my impression that this chronic, non-industrial condition was in no way caused or exacerbated by the applicant’s work as a professional football player,” Warick’s report stated. “It should, in fact, be viewed as a significant non-industrial stressor for this applicant.”

Winslow and his attorney didn’t return messages seeking comment.

Winslow’s psychiatric condition still may be considered permanent, according to Warick’s report, but with only 20% of the causation apportioned to “industrial” or football-related factors. The rest of the causation was apportioned to nonindustrial or non-football factors, including the death of one son in 2006 and the criminal proceedings of his other son in 2018 and 2019.

“His prognosis is good,” Warick’s report stated.

Winslow Sr. gave deposition testimony in the case in 2019 when he tried to recall various injuries during his football career. He reported having “head-to-head” collisions in college at Missouri and in high school before that, when “coaches in those days believed in contact practice.” He didn’t recall how many times he was diagnosed with concussions in the NFL. In one game against the Cincinnati Bengals, he said he was hit in the back of the head by an opponent’s knee, which “laid him out on the field.”

“They came and got me,” he said, according to the records. Another time he had a “bright flash of light.”

He was unconscious “several times when playing for the Chargers,” the report stated. “Half a dozen or so.”

Other injuries from football

He also has ongoing pain in his head, neck, lower back, hips, shoulder and right knee, which might require replacement, Warick’s report states. In a previous workers’ compensation case, he received $72,000 for his right knee injury, according to the records.

But the body part issues settled in this case primarily involve the brain and nervous system, along with chronic pain, hypertension, heart disease and headaches.

“Although Mr. Winslow does not have a headache disorder or a cognitive disorder which reaches a ratable level, I would apportion his subjective complaints of headaches and cognitive disorder 50% to playing football in high school and college as well as the specific motor vehicle accident at age 17, and 50% to playing professional football,” said the evaluation signed by doctor Charles Glatstein.

Other doctors did not share Glatstein’s viewpoint.

“I would respectfully disagree with Dr. Glatstein,” said another report by neurologist Kenneth Nudleman. “He did not take into consideration or document (Winslow’s) activities of daily living … Given that he played as a tight end and in a time where he had multiple subconcussive blows, it would be expected with aging that his cognitive problems would gradually evolve. As to any headaches, I did not consider these to be on an industrial basis (related to football) given the more recent onset of the headaches. The dizziness did not rise to the level of impairment.”

Nudleman noted he should be monitored for late onset neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

“Clinically, of course, he does not have this at the present time and he is at risk to develop CTE,” Nudleman wrote, referring to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease linked to football head trauma.

Winslow no longer works at Madonna University.

Warick’s report in 2020 also noted several positives about his mental state.

“He likes music,” the report stated. “He plays chess on the internet. He considers himself in the upper echelons of chess players, with a rating of 1800/2300. He plays golf. He listens to audiobooks, documentaries and fiction, and he likes to read.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-NFL player Kellen Winslow Sr. recently settled brain injury claims