Report: Former Archbishop Ryan star and NFL tight end Frank Wycheck says he's suffering from CTE

Former NFL tight end Frank Wycheck, who starred at Archbishop Ryan High, said he thinks he is suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to a report.

Wycheck, 45, said in an interview with Fox-WZTV in Nashville, Tenn., that he has many symptoms associated with the disease.

"I'm sure — the punishment I took and the concussions, the dings, for sure,," he said. "Migraine headaches, just being depressed, just not wanting to socialize, sensitivity to light. I go into a room and forget why I went there."

CTE is a progressive degenerative brain disease found in athletes and others who have a history of repetitive brain trauma, including concussions. It can only be diagnosed after a person has died via an autopsy of the brain.

"Junior Seau — what caused him one day to put a shotgun to his chest and pull the trigger?" Wycheck said. "As former players, you're like, 'When is that going to happen to me?' Is there a special pill I can take? Do I eat carrots? What do I do to prevent perhaps what is inevitable?' That's a stress that is on your mind daily."

Wycheck, who started playing at age 5 and retired at 33 after an 11-year NFL career, said he was involved in thousands of collisions on the football field and sustained 25 concussions.

"I added it up to 297,000 collisions," he said. "I was a linebacker and I was a running back, so I was hitting with my head every single time."

Wycheck, who played at Maryland, was selected by the Washington Redskins in the sixth-round of the 1993 draft. He played two seasons with the Redskins and was claimed off waivers by the then-Houston Oilers in 1995 where he played two seasons. He then went with the Oilers when they relocated to Tennessee in 1997 and spent his remaining career with the Titans.

He's most famous for his role in the "Music City Miracle" in which he fielded a kickoff from the Bills in the 2000 wild-card game and threw a cross-field lateral to Kevin Dyson, who ran 75 yards for the winning touchdown.

Wycheck joined the NFL concussion lawsuit, but said he's not counting on a settlement.

"A doctor has to say you have dementia before you actually get a dime. I'm not expecting anything from the NFL.

"Everyone thought we were crying about our injuries: 'Woe is me. Why did we even play?' But, the NFL knew. The main NFL doctor came out and said that there isn't any long-term brain damage when you play football, so he basically lied and hid a lot of that information. That's the price you pay and to be honest with you, I wouldn't change a thing."

Wycheck also talked to ESPN, and revealed that he's been suffering from depression that has made him not want to leave his house in Nashville's suburbs.

"I've made commitments over the last five years that at the last minute I've cancelled; it's just like some type of psychological thing for me," he said. "It's hurt, and I've lost friendships over that. And that bothers me and makes me feel terrible and leads to another form of depression. ... It's almost like there is a brick wall before you go out the door."

Wycheck, who was a member of the Ted Silary's Daily News' All-Century Philly NFL team in 2000, is currently a co-host of The Wake Up Zone on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville and is a color commentator for Titans Radio.