Tom Brady on concussion risks: Good outweighs bad

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told CNBC on Friday that he’d encourage his kids to play football if they wanted to, and other parents should, too, despite the risk of concussions or other serious injuries.

“It’s a contact sport. Things happen in the game that are out of your control. In any contact sport, there’s going to be head injuries. It’s one thing to get them, it’s another thing to know how to treat them,” Brady said in a “Squawk Box” interview.

“I don’t think I’m really concerned because the things I learned over the years, the things we do at TB12 [Brady’s sports therapy center], I think we’ve got some of those things figured out,” he added. “Prevention and rehabilitation are really important to any injury you sustain.”

The NFL said this week that concussions decreased 13 percent overall during the 2013 season. The number of concussions coming from helmet-to-helmet contact was down 23 percent, according to the league’s health and safety report.

In July, a federal judge tentatively approved the NFL’s proposal concerning concussion complaints from former players. A settlement could exceed $675 million in total damages and involve as many as 20,000 retired players.

—By CNBC’s Matthew J. Belvedere. Associated Press contributed to this report