Jaquan Brisker leaves no doubt after concussions: 'Nine is back'

He showed it with an interception of Caleb Williams he alertly made off a tipped pass earlier in OTAs.

Brisker was anything but clear of mind last year after the vestibular concussion he suffered while trying to make a tackle against Carolina the right way, without his head involved. It took him the rest of the season before he said he felt totally normal.

All the while, there were concerns his career might be over after sitting out 12 games. The concerns didn't come from him, or anyone he knows, though, and he never considered retirement or had someone suggest it.

"Nah, nah. Nope," he said. "Not with no one, especially not myself. Not with my parents.

"I feel like if my parents, you know, say something, it's deep. So, if it didn't come from them or come from me, I didn't hear it to be honest."

It was out there from plenty of people who really lacked knowledge of the head injury he suffered when he was involved in a big collision with the Panthers Tommy Tremble.

Now, even though Brisker says he is fine and has shown it in practice so far, there are still those who will have doubts he'll be able to play the same physical way. These are only OTAs and minicamp going on and there is no real hitting involved.

"Yeah, I am going to continue to play the same way," he said. "That was my first time really having a contact injury.

"He hit his head on my neck so kind of just hit his helmet on the right spot. Really just moving on from that."

After visiting with a doctor in Pittsburgh about his situation, he basically had to "retrain" his brain in rehab.

"Just like side-to-side movement," he said. "It's a lot of tennis ball catching and things like that, just trying to track my eyes, get my eyes moving around, get my body moving around, you know, fast and things like that. Just reacting."

Brisker wanted to play in London the week after the injury but after he finally told the Bears he didn't feel right he was then told he couldn't make the trip after he failed to pass the NFL concussion protocol.

"Really, I was going to force myself to go," he said. "That's how bad I want to play football. I was going to force myself to go.

"I knew something was going on but something in my head was telling me 'nah, you can't go.' So I went to tell our doctors. That's what happened."

Maybe the more painful part was watching games go by, losses stack up and the frustration of it all. Each week, he told his mother he was planning to play but never got out of the concussion protocol until he finally went on injured reserve.

"It was hard," Brisker said. "It was hard being away from football, especially week to week, you know. It was kind of getting sad and depressing, things like that. But got over it, it's time to move on and I'm back now."

Now convinced his mind is right, and having the approval of doctors he'll try to earn a contract extension by being the safety coach Ben Johnson had to tell Lions players to watch out for when his Detroit offenses played the Bears in 2022 and 2023.

"He was a guy that you had to earmark and make sure you knew where he was when you game-planned against him because he was very active, particularly in the run game, not afraid to hit you," Johnson said. "So we always told the receivers that they had to makes sure they accounted for him.

"You cant see that right (physical style) now without the pads. But you can certainly see an active player. He's excited he's passionate about the game and he loves playing football. He loves to (trash) talk a little bit too, which I appreciate."

It's going to go a little deeper than trash talking when it comes to those who wrote him off as being finished, or even the team last year.

"Doubting the team, doubting me, whatever it may be, I'm keeping all the receipts," Brisker said. "Everybody who thought it was funny or everybody who talked about us, we are ready for this year. I'm ready for this year. I'm back. Nine is back.

"I'm going to do what I do. People are going to say what they want, critics are going to say whatever but I'm here."

Deal with it. He has, as in past tense.