Sports agent Leigh Steinberg spends a lot of time helping athletes learn more about the effects of concussions. Steinberg, who represents both Steve Young and Troy Aikman, says the NFL needs to do a better job of tackling this problem.

	Steve Young, a seven-time Pro Bowler, rushed for an NFL-record 43 touchdowns.

"It's not as if we have an NFL that takes the whole issue seriously," Steinberg told Gary Miller on a recent edition of ESPN's Up Close. "I mean, two helmets hitting together is the logo that we start Monday Night Football with. Lots of money is made from the videotapes that they sell which extol the hits."

Steinberg also talked about the recent concussions suffered by both Young and Aikman. An edited transcript of Steinberg's comments follows.

Miller: Tell us about the evolution of Ryan Leaf and all the things that have happened and how, now, there is talk of a potential contract extension. How could that be?

Steinberg: Well frankly, whether both sides like it or not, and I think ultimately they'll like it, Ryan would count so much money against the salary cap, probably $9 million if they traded him or waived him, that they are really stuck together in a marriage. I think both sides are trying to make it a happier marriage. Obviously he's done some things that he wishes he hadn't done and he has used some poor judgment, and I just hope that one day you look back and you say, "see that wonderful role model Ryan Leaf, see that wonderful player, didn't he have some problems in his first couple years?"

Miller: What is your relationship with him like, what is your response from him when you say things like, "you know, Ryan, this is probably not in your best interest"?

Steinberg: Generally, if it is a real crisis he withdraws into himself, so it has been hard to reach him in those situations. I have not had a lot of contact with him. I am just hoping that working with the right people, he gets it back on track, and goes on. It's too early to confine Ryan Leaf to the trash heap of the NFL in his second year. His behavior hasn't been wonderful at times, but we all did things in our late teens or early 20s that we probably wouldn't want to have rehashed.

Miller: What do you think is eating at him? Where do you think the anger comes from that has made him so resentful of any authority figure?

Steinberg: I don't know, he does have anger in him, and people that are more expert in that field will have to make those types of conclusions.

Miller: Any thought on, "what do I have to gain keeping him as a client?"

Steinberg: Yes. Obviously we, as you know, represent role models. We have all our clients go back and retrace the roots back to the high school, college, and professional communities. We set up charitable programs. I believe strongly that athletes have an obligation to be gracious with the press, gracious with the fans, gracious with their teammates, but I can't just run away from a young man any time he experiences problems. Ninety-five percent of our clients are the student body types, role model types, and hopefully he will get there one day.

Miller: Let's talk about some of the clients that you have that have had incredible turnarounds. Kerry Collins: what happened to turn around his career?

Steinberg: Kerry Collins is very bright, wonderful person, with a wonderful heart, who repaid his scholarship to Penn State University, endowed a full scholarship. Alcoholism came over him and it was something that he inherited and it distorted his personality for a while; it caused him to get into all sorts of scrapes. He went into rehab this last off-season, really dedicated himself to it and he has turned back into the wonderful person that he was in the first place, and his life is really happy. If you watched last Sunday, he lit it up. This is Kerry Collins, who in his second year took his team (the Carolina Panthers) to the NFC championship (game) and played in the Pro Bowl, and that is what he is capable of.

Miller: How difficult does that make negotiations, when something off the field happens, in an upcoming contract situation?

Steinberg: I think it can make it very hard in a lot of cases to do a breakthrough contract, because remember that signing bonuses are guaranteed. If the player somehow happens not to show up, the team is stuck with the signing bonus and they're stuck with the cap commitment that they've made with no player to fill it. So they not only have wasted money but they can't fill that spot, so it's very, very tough. In that particular case, Ernie Accorsi did tremendous research into Kerry, was very, very positive through the whole experience, and that's been part of what has helped Kerry come back to be the person he is.

Miller: Let's talk about some of the model guys, like Troy Aikman and Steve Young. You are good friends with Steve, how do you feel about him playing another year?

Steinberg: I've been pretty open in the past about saying that I think that too many hits are not really conducive to a great second career. I would err on the side of caution, but right now, he is going through a thought process. He is very, very competitive, that is what makes him tick, and the thought that he would go to training camp, start playing in the season and somehow be standing on the sidelines, that is the worst torture imaginable for Steve Young. If you were doing George Orwell's book 1984, where they take people to the site of their greatest fear, Steve's would be being forced to stand on the sidelines while the team is losing. So he'll work his way through this ultimately. As you know, I've been very focused on concussions. Steve went to one of our concussion seminars where we bring the leading head injury and brain specialists from across the country, and have them talk about the consequences, prevention and what the long-term outlook would be. The very puzzling part of this is that the brain is the last frontier of medical research, and no doctor can say which hit is the one that might lead someone to Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's, or premature senility.

Miller: Steve's concussion was very early in the season. Why couldn't he play now? What difference does it make whether it's now or next September, as to what his danger risk is?

Steinberg: Well, let's be open about this. The state of the (49ers) offensive line is such that he probably would come back and have another concussion quickly. In both the cases of Steve and Troy, what happened is that they had minor concussions in the week prior to the official concussion. There is a syndrome called, second concussion syndrome, where if someone has had one recently and then goes right back into a physical situation where there head might be hit, they are very likely to get a second one. That is what happened, so that you are actually looking at both those situations as back-to-back concussions in back-to-back games.

Miller: What happens to them as you talk to them a lot. How do you see them change, do they forget things, what signs do you see?

Steinberg: You don't really see the signs, and that is what is confusing, because at the very beginning there are headaches and they are complaining about nausea and complaining about memory loss. But after a few days pass that's all gone, and remember, we have diagnostic tests that can tell on a baseline whether or not someone has dropped in mental acuity from one year to the next. We have an MRI that shows so-called white spots, indicative of brain damage, but we don't have the instrumentation in the middle that can accurately track what happens with six or seven concussions, and we are not seeing what it is going to be like 30 years from now and that's why I've made sure that our players at least understand what these risks are. It's not as if we have an NFL that takes the whole issue seriously. I mean, two helmets hitting together is the logo that we start Monday Night Football with. Lots of money is made from the videotapes that they sell which extol the hits. Even our nomenclature, Gary, is like, "oh, he got his bell rung." We minimize the whole thing and yet it's one thing for a player to know that, when he leans over to pick up his kids when he is 40 years old, that he'll have aches and pains. It's an entirely different thing not to be able to recognize that child, and there's even research now that shows the test scores of kids that use the head in soccer, hit headers, drop.

Miller: Edgerrin James: how much money could he make if he lost the dreadlocks, etc., and played the marketing game as well as he plays football?

Steinberg: We made a conscious decision to do no endorsements the first year, because the engine that pulls the train for a rookie is his football career. He signed a huge contract, he got nine-and-a-half million dollars, roughly, in bonus, and then you walk into a team and that coach wants to know that you are serious about football and that owner wants to know that you are serious. If you put a rookie player up on every billboard around town, then you make him a subject of scorn. The minute he does a bad thing, people start saying, "Why is he up there?" In the future, I think Edgerrin will be open to doing things, and Gary, it's all a matter of taste. In the '60s I had a beard and my hair was a little bushy and my parents thought that someone else, other than their son, had come home. But certain people like the dreadlocks, and certain like the look of his teeth, and I'm not going to try to change that.

Miller: Let's talk about quarterback Akili Smith now, and unfortunately, his season is over with an injury. It's been a dismal season again in Cincinnati, but how much easier would it make your life if one of these years, they would win seven or eight games and wouldn't have the top two or three picks?

Steinberg: I must have done something in a previous incarnation with (Bengals president and GM) Mike Brown somehow, because it's my destiny in life to have their first draft pick: 1987 (Jason Buck), 1992 (David Klingler), 1994 (Dan Wilkinson), 1995 (Ki-Jana Cater), and 1999 and then with Akili. But he is going to be a great quarterback, and I think they are going to be very happy with him.

Miller: We talk about parity in the NFL and how quickly teams like St. Louis can turn around, but how come Cincinnati never seems to get any better?

Steinberg: Well, hopefully they will now, because they've got a franchise quarterback and they've done some good draft picks. You know, I'm going to go to them, ask them whom they plan on drafting if they pick high, and make sure I don't recruit that person (smiling).

Miller: Looking ahead to the 2000 draft, do you think Peter Warrick's off-the-field incident will affect his draft position at all?

Steinberg: I don't think so, as long as he can ensure people that it wouldn't happen again. People make mistakes and he is supposed to be a pretty nice kid anyway, so that will all come out in the scouting. He is probably right now the odds-on favorite to be the first pick in the draft, but there are some great running backs like Thomas Jones and Ron Dayne, two outstanding quarterbacks in Chad Pennington and Chris Redman.

Miller: As the draft approaches, how competitive does it get amongst the agents?

Steinberg: Well, we have a particular type of athlete we look for, someone that is going to be a role model, someone who believes in community and charity and good fundamental values, and there are plenty of those athletes to go around. So I'm sure we will have another vibrant crop; last year we had four first-round picks and a second rounder, and we'll have another good crop. We only take clients to the degree that they retire at the other end of the spectrum and this year, I mean, it could be Warren Moon, it could be Steve Young, Darryl Johnston, we have a whole series of players who may leave, so we will need to replace them.

Miller: Well you still have got a big smile on your face, it look likes you are still enjoying your job.

Steinberg: (Big grin and chuckle) It's fun.