Concussions in the NFL dropped by 11.3 percent in 2016, according to data released by the league Thursday.
There were 244 reported concussions during practices and games in the preseason and regular season, down from 275 in 2015. But the number is still higher than it was in 2014 (206) and 2013 (229), a trend the NFL attributes in part to an increase in self-reporting by players as awareness of symptoms grows.
The 2016 decrease coincides with a regulatory component added to the concussion protocol prior to the season. It provides a mechanism for the NFL and NFL Players Association to enforce the protocol via investigations and possible discipline of individual instances.