Wide receivers get hurt the most in professional football by total injury count. Over four NFL seasons studied, wide receivers recorded 432 injuries, followed closely by safeties at 420 and linebackers at 403. But the answer shifts depending on whether you’re counting raw totals, injury rates relative to playing time, or specific injury types like concussions and torn ligaments. At the high school level, the picture changes again, with offensive linemen and running backs taking the hardest toll.
NFL Positions With the Most Total Injuries
A study tracking NFL injuries across the 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020 seasons found that wide receivers led all positions with 432 total injuries. Safeties were close behind at 420, and linebackers came in third at 403. Running backs (295), defensive tackles (278), and cornerbacks (260) filled out the next tier. At the bottom of the list: kickers (27), long snappers (2), and fullbacks (10).
These raw numbers make sense when you think about what these players actually do on the field. Wide receivers run full-speed routes, absorb hits from defenders while catching the ball, and frequently get tackled in awkward positions mid-stride. Safeties are often the last line of defense, meaning they’re involved in high-speed collisions on almost every passing play. Linebackers face a double threat: they’re tackling ball carriers in the run game and covering receivers in the passing game, so they’re exposed to contact on nearly every snap.
Concussion Risk Varies Sharply by Position
When you narrow the focus to concussions, defensive backs (cornerbacks and safeties combined) stand out dramatically. Over two NFL regular seasons, defensive backs suffered concussions at a rate of 11.76 per 1,000 athlete exposures, roughly double the rate of the next closest group. Quarterbacks came second at 6.77, and offensive linemen were close behind at 6.10. Defensive linemen had the lowest concussion rate among the groups studied, at 3.13 per 1,000 exposures.
The reason defensive backs get concussed so often comes down to the nature of their collisions. They’re frequently involved in open-field tackles where both players are moving at high speed, and they’re often the ones initiating contact with their heads closest to the action. Quarterbacks, meanwhile, are vulnerable because they’re often hit while standing still in the pocket or just after releasing a throw, meaning they can’t brace themselves.
Offensive linemen face a different kind of head trauma risk. While their diagnosed concussion rate is moderate, they absorb far more total impacts to the head than any other position. Studies using sensors in helmets have found that high school linemen sustain roughly 29 head impacts per game, compared to 16 for receivers, cornerbacks, and safeties. Most of these hits are below the threshold for a concussion diagnosis, but the cumulative effect of thousands of these “subconcussive” impacts over a career is a growing concern in brain health research.
Knee and Soft Tissue Injuries by Position
ACL tears, one of the most feared injuries in football, don’t strike evenly across the roster. Wide receivers and tight ends have the highest incidence of ACL injuries in the NFL. Both positions involve rapid direction changes, explosive cuts, and high-speed collisions that put enormous stress on the knee. About a third of ACL tears in football happen through non-contact mechanisms, like landing awkwardly from a jump, which is especially common for receivers going up for catches.
Hamstring strains follow a similar pattern, disproportionately affecting the fastest players on the field. Over a 10-year NFL study, the defensive secondary (cornerbacks and safeties) accounted for 23.1% of all hamstring injuries, while wide receivers made up 20.8%. Special teams players were the third most affected group at 13.0%. More than half of all hamstring strains occurred during the seven-week preseason, when players are ramping up their speed and conditioning work rapidly. The preseason practice injury rate for hamstrings was more than four times higher than the regular-season practice rate.
How Quarterback Injuries Are Different
Quarterbacks don’t top the overall injury charts, but their injuries tend to be uniquely tied to the physical demands of the position. Head injuries are the most common category for NFL quarterbacks, and shoulder injuries come second, making up about 15.2% of all quarterback injuries. The shoulder takes a beating from two directions: direct hits from pass rushers, and the repetitive stress of throwing.
The most common shoulder injury for quarterbacks is a sprain to the joint where the collarbone meets the shoulder blade (the AC joint). Quarterbacks sustain this injury more than any other position, at a rate of about 20.9 per 100 players. Bruises to the muscles around the shoulder, particularly the deltoid and rotator cuff, are also frequent and typically result from direct contact with defenders. Throwing-related injuries like rotator cuff tendonitis and labral tears are surprisingly uncommon by comparison, though they tend to be more serious when they do occur.
High School Football Tells a Different Story
At the high school level, the injury landscape shifts. A study of over 10,000 high school football injuries found that offensive linemen as a group (center, guard, and tackle combined) sustained the largest share of all injuries at 18.3%. Running backs came next at 16.3%, followed by linebackers at 14.9% and wide receivers at 11.9%.
The likely explanation is that high school offenses run the ball more frequently than NFL teams, which puts linemen and running backs in constant physical contact. The overall injury rate for high school football was 4.08 per 1,000 athlete exposures, with player-to-player contact causing 64% of all injuries. The two most dangerous moments were being tackled (24.4% of injuries) and tackling (21.8%), which together accounted for nearly half of everything that went wrong on the field.
Special Teams: A Hidden Danger Zone
Special teams plays, especially kickoffs, have long been recognized as some of the most dangerous moments in football. Players sprint downfield at full speed and collide with blockers and returners in open space, creating the conditions for severe injuries. The NFL has repeatedly changed kickoff rules to reduce this risk.
In 2024, the league introduced a “dynamic kickoff” format designed to limit high-speed collisions. Comparing 2024 to 2022, concussions on kickoffs dropped by about 23%, and concussions on returns dropped by about 12%. However, the picture is complicated: concussions had already fallen sharply between 2022 and 2023 under the previous rules, so the 2024 numbers actually represented a significant increase over 2023. With only one season of data under the new format, it’s still unclear whether the rule change will reduce injuries over time as players and coaches adjust their strategies.
Why There’s No Single Answer
The position that gets hurt the most depends on what you’re measuring. By raw injury totals in the NFL, it’s wide receivers. By concussion rate per playing time, it’s defensive backs by a wide margin. By cumulative head impacts over a career, offensive linemen face the greatest exposure. By ACL tears, wide receivers and tight ends lead. At the high school level, offensive linemen and running backs bear the heaviest burden.
What ties all of these positions together is exposure to high-speed contact, rapid changes of direction, or both. Positions that involve open-field collisions, like safety, wide receiver, and linebacker, consistently rank near the top regardless of which injury metric you use. Positions with less physical contact, like kicker and punter, sit firmly at the bottom. The most dangerous place on a football field is wherever two fast-moving players are about to meet.