Former Cleveland Browns quarterback and fan favorite Bernie Kosar said this week that he has been replaced by the team and WKYC-TV for the NFL squad's preseason broadcasts because of concussions he received, resulting in slurred speech.
The controversy not only focuses to Kosar's sometimes biting game analysis, which seemed to come to a head with his criticism of the St. Louis Rams backup QB Kellen Clemens last year, but the touchy subject of concussions in the NFL.
In replacing Kosar with veteran sports broadcaster Solomon Wilcots, WKYC-TV general manager and president Brooke Spectorsky said in statement that they hoped to move Kosar to a new role on
ClevelandBrowns.com, Cleveland Browns Daily on WKNR-AM and the Browns Radio Network.
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"We wanted to explore having Bernie's presence with our broadcast team, possibly providing analysis during the pregame show with various segments throughout the preseason," Spectorsky said in the statement.
Kosar was admonished by the Browns and Rams coach Jeff Fisher for negative comments he made about Clemens, the Rams receivers and assistant coach Ray Sherman during a preseason game last year.
The former quarterback, who won a Super Bowl ring as a backup with the Dallas Cowboys, was diagnosed with traumatic injury to the frontal lobe, which controls speech and motor function, memory, problem-solving, social behavior and judgment,
according to the Akron Beacon-Journal back in early 2013.
Kosar charged that was the real reason for his dismissal in a statement to the
Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"I believe that this decision stems from my slurred speech impairment, which is a direct result of the many concussions I received while playing in the NFL," Kosar said in his statement. "This is very unfortunate, as I believe my football acumen and ability to describe what is happening on the field, has been well received by Cleveland Browns fans."
Fans mostly responded negatively to Kosar's announced departure.
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