Former Green Bay Packers running back Ahman Green shared some heavy news this week. The four-time Pro Bowler revealed on Tyler Dunne’s Go Long podcast that he has been diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease at age 49.
Green did not sugarcoat the diagnosis, but he also refused to let it define him. He said he was not scared of what is ahead and that he plans to attack this the same way he attacked everything else in his football career.
“My clock is going to stop ticking when I want it to stop ticking,” Green said during the episode.
That is a striking line. Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological disease with no cure. It typically involves gradual loss of motor control, tremors, and eventually more serious complications. Getting diagnosed with it at 49 is on the younger end of the spectrum.
The news is going to hit hard for Packers fans of a certain age. Green was one of the most productive running backs of the early 2000s. He ran for over 1,000 yards five times in Green Bay. His 1,883 rushing yards in 2003 set the franchise’s single-season record, one that stood for years. He was the offensive engine on Brett Favre’s teams during a really fun stretch of Packers football.
The bigger context around this diagnosis matters. Green’s is now one of many former NFL running backs to reveal serious neurological issues later in life. Terrell Davis has spoken about cognitive concerns. Adrian Peterson has been public about post-career struggles. The pattern is impossible to ignore.
Research over the last decade has firmly established connections between repeated head trauma and neurodegenerative diseases. CTE has been the most publicized, but Parkinson’s-related diagnoses in former football players are also happening at rates higher than the general population. Green’s story is going to be one more data point that fans and players cannot look away from.
To Green’s credit, he is not framing this as a football tragedy. He talked openly about staying positive, focusing on the things he can control, and living his life fully. That is a hard mindset to maintain with a diagnosis this serious. It is also the only mindset that lets you keep moving forward.
Green played 12 NFL seasons, mostly in Green Bay with a couple of stops in Seattle and Houston. He rushed for 9,205 yards in his career, along with 60 rushing touchdowns and 20 receiving. He was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 2015.
The Packers themselves have been quiet publicly since the news broke, but expect the organization to rally around Green. The team has a good track record of supporting former players in medical need. Green has stayed connected to the franchise since his retirement and has been part of the alumni network in Green Bay for years.
For anyone dealing with a Parkinson’s diagnosis or supporting a loved one who is, the Michael J. Fox Foundation is one of the leading resources for research and community support. Green did not use his platform to plug any organization specifically, but the ripple effects of a story like this always lead more people toward those groups.
The NFL owes former players like Green better long-term care systems. That conversation is ongoing and probably will be for a long time. In the meantime, Ahman Green is doing what he always did on the football field. He is running forward.
Wishing him strength.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
