Former Detroit Lions running back Jahvid Best has filed a lawsuit against the NFL, helmet maker Riddell and Easton-Bell Sports over concussion he suffered while playing.

Best failed to reach his potential during his brief stint in the NFL, being drafted in the first round in 2010 before suffering numerous problems with head injuries and eventually being released in July 2013.

The NFL have undergone a major overhaul of their concussion protocol recently, but Best's attorney Bret Schnitzer revealed that the 24-year-old was looking for cover if he experienced health problems later in his life.

"The purpose behind the lawsuit, there's a number of requests of release in the lawsuit. One of them is to set up a medical fund for Mr Best in order to deal with future medical conditions out of this concussion syndrome," Schnitzer told reporters.

"As I am sure you are probably aware through various media and the 'Frontline' program and so on, the brain injuries with concussion syndrome does not necessarily manifest itself completely immediately, as you can see from the other cases.

"Sometimes it is 10, 20 years where the brain injury process takes to develop and it's not necessarily going to show itself in a 24-, 25-year-old football player to the extent that it might 10, 15, 20 years down the road. So one of the goals of the litigation is to protect Mr. Best down the road in terms of his medical condition and problems that he may have in the future."

Best played 22 games for the Lions in 2010 and 2011, rushing for 945 yards and nine touchdowns while catching 85 passes for 774 yards and three touchdowns.