NFL's Plan to Instate Concussion Lawsuit Waivers Is Smart Move

Perhaps the biggest hot-button issue in the NFL right now is concussions and their future effects on players. The league may be trying to cover itself by curtailing future concussion-related lawsuits, and that is certainly a smart move on its part.

According to Chris Corbellini of The Daily, the NFL is in the process of working language into the contracts of new players, beginning with those selected in the 2012 NFL draft, that would prohibit them from suing over concussion-related issues following their careers.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello refuted the report, but it makes a lot of sense from the NFL's perspective. The league is currently fighting a lawsuit brought upon by over 300 former players who say that the NFL didn't properly educate players about concussions, nor did it do enough to prevent them.

While those players likely have a point as concussions weren't such a point of contention in the past, there is no question that the NFL is sufficiently teaching its players about the dangers of concussions now, and the league is taking more than enough precautions to protect the players as well.

Even so, the players association is predictably outraged by the possibility of this lawsuit waiver. Obviously the players association has to do everything it possibly can in order to help the players, but the players really shouldn't have the right to sue the league over head injuries.

All of the current players are very aware of how serious concussions are, so it is on them and the team physicians to ensure that their health isn't at risk. On top of that, the players should know going in that injuries are a part of the game. The NFL needs to do everything it can to protect the players, but concussions are inevitably going to happen.

Every job on this Earth comes with some degree of risk, and for football players that risk involves injuries, including concussions. To sue the league over an injury that happens so commonly due to the violent nature of the sport is simply ridiculous.

How can you blame the NFL for trying to cover itself down the line? Because there was no past emphasis on concussions, the league is probably going to have to settle with the players involved in the current lawsuit for a substantial sum of money.

The league is so successful that it practically prints money, but it can't continue to get raked through the coals. If current players are already plotting to sue the NFL in the future should they have issues stemming from concussions, then they honestly don't belong in the league.

Auto racers get injured on a weekly basis and some of them even die. Despite that, you never see racers suing NASCAR or the Indy Racing League because they fully understand what they signed up for. That is now the case with NFL players and concussions; they know what they signed up for.

Call the NFL money hungry if you want, but I prefer to call it smart. The league is already being burned by many of its former players, and it certainly shouldn't let it happen again in the future.