Stedman Bailey discusses NFL return after being shot in the head

Doctors have advised Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey to forgo an NFL comeback, recommendations Bailey said he intends to ignore in the wake of an attack that left him in intensive care with gunshot wounds to his head.

“They don’t think I will be able to make a return to the NFL,” Bailey said in a video produced by West Virginia Illustrated. “When somebody tells me they don’t think I can do something, I do whatever I can to prove them wrong.

Bailey and one of his cousins, Antwan Reeves, were shot while in a vehicle outside Miami on Nov. 23. Bailey underwent a seven-hour surgery and remained in the hospital for about a month.

“They had to cut into my head and repair the bone right above my (right) eyebrow,” Bailey said. “The bone was pretty much shattered.”

Bailey said he’s seen a decline in strength since the incident, although the video shows him working out at the gym.

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“My neurosurgeon is worried about me returning to the NFL because when I got shot in the head, it was kind of like the worst kind of concussion you could have,” Bailey said. “Football is physical sport and guys have concussions all the time. That’s the scariest part about it.

"At the end of the day, I want to have my mind functioning and be a good family man, good dad and be myself.”