Brett Favre says he had 'thousands' of concussions while playing in the NFL

• Brett Favre estimated he had "thousands" of concussions during his nearly 20 years in the NFL.
• "It's the ones that seem minor that do the damage," he said on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show.

Brett Favre believes he must have had "thousands" of concussions during his time as an NFL quarterback.

The NFL Hall of Famer joined the Bubba the Love Sponge Show to discuss his NFL career, prompting host Todd "Bubba" Clem, to ask how many times Favre has been concussed.

"100?" Clem guessed.

"Oh, no. Way more than that," Favre responded.

"The thing about concussions is we still don't know a lot about them," Favre continued. "If you'd have asked me 10 years ago how many concussions I had I'd have said three."

Favre explained that he used to think concussions only occurred when you're knocked out from a hit. But our understanding of brain injuries has changed, he said.

"What we now know is concussions happen all the time," Favre said. "You get tackled and your head hits the turf and you see flashes of light or ringing in your ears, but you're able to play. That's a concussion."

Based on that definition of a concussion, Favre estimated that he has had "thousands."

"Every time I hit the turf, there was ringing or stars ... but I was still able to play," he said.

"That's what's kind of frightening about the concussion thing," Favre continued. "It's the ones that seem minor that do the damage because you're able to play and keep going."

He said he thinks there are probably still NFL players today who get these minor concussions and say "I'm not going out" because they don't want to lose their spot on the team.

Favre played in the NFL for nearly 20 years as one of the game's greatest quarterbacks, playing for the Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets, and Minnesota Vikings.