Maurice Jones-Drew told the Florida Times-Union that concussions are an occupational risk of playing professional football.

And he says the NFL is making it a front burner issue primarily because of recent lawsuits that have been filed over concussions suffered by former players.

"The only reason they're making a big deal about concussions right now is because the league is getting sued over it," Jones-Drew said. "Before this, you never heard about it. A couple of years ago, you didn't hear anything about it. Let's not make something out of nothing. Yeah, people are getting messed up. That happens. Most of the time it's because they're not wearing mouth pieces and they're probably doing some other stuff. Obviously, back in the day they were doing some things that weren't going to help your body out. It's 2012; there's ways to fix your body. Sometimes that means you have to pay the price."

Jones-Drew said that if he suffers the after-effects, it will be worth it to have been able to provide for his children.

"I would do anything for my kids," Jones-Drew said. "If they're happy, I'm happy. I think they would appreciate it. As long as my kids' kids would be happy with what I did, that's what this life is about: sacrifice. It's not about you anymore, you know? I knew coming into this game. I've had concussions before and it wasn't this big deal about concussion."

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Terry McCormick covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com