My enduring memory of former Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas is watching him streak across the middle of the field, catching a slant route from Tim Tebow on the first play of overtime, stiff-arming one defender, and out-running the rest to win a playoff game in 2012.
What Thomas could not outrun were the effects caused by multiple head traumas.
His reception against the Pittsburgh Steelers made him an NFL star and jumped started an extraordinary half-decade of excellence for the four-time Pro Bowler. It was also one of the first highlights post-mortem tributes showed when the 33-year-old Thomas died last December.
Just this past week, Boston University’s CTE Center confirmed that Thomas suffered from stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The condition causes brain degeneration due to repeated head trauma.
