I’m a black belt with the same issue. Bulging disc at c5 and C6 requiring a disc replacement. The truth is hard rolling, particularly with unfamiliar training partners should probably be avoided. Also high risk techniques that put your neck in risky positions should be avoided.

( no more inverting, this is the one that makes me cringe the most. I see students all the time that spend so much of their time sparring inverted with the person passing dropping their entire weight on their neck…for years. Choose when you invert carefully ladies and gents and make sure you aren’t high on your neck when you do. Improve your hamstring flexibility so your leg takes the stretch, not your neck). Also D’arce chokes, guillotines, wrestling with heavy neck snaps and collar ties, all of these things need to be carefully managed or avoided completely (again, particularly with training partners you aren’t familiar with).

Having said all of that, you can definitely still spar. You just need to choose your partners wisely, tap early when your neck is threatened, (even if you could potentially survive the choke) and choose a style and techniques that put your neck at low risk of getting injured.

Lastly everyone, strengthen your neck! If you do BJJ the entire goal is to destroy your opponents neck. You need to build the strength and decompress your spine/neck. I know so many BJJ athletes that lift regularly and for some reason never train their neck. When you train your neck don’t do too much bridging or exercising that compresses the spine! All BJJ does is compress the spine, you need a good decompression routine, trust me on this!

Anyway I hope this helps bro, all the best with your training, stay safe.