Frivolous Lawsuits, Attention-Grabbing Headlines—the New Fears of the NFL

And so it begins! Last week, the sports world was shocked by the tragic suicide of Junior Seau. Now many former players are beginning to realize or are finding the courage to admit that they are struggling with memory loss and other issues related to repeated traumatic impact to the brain.

Over the coming weeks, we are going to see more and more former players coming out of the woodwork claiming suffering and issues that they have had when their playing days were over.

Currently, there are over 1,800 former players named in 70 complaints that are going to be presented as a class action lawsuit against the NFL, claiming that the NFL did not do enough to properly protect or inform the players of the inherent risks and dangers they could potentially be exposed to while they are playing.

Just the other day, Jim Arnold, former Pro Bowl punter—that’s right, punter—of the Detroit Lions joined a class action lawsuit against the NFL and recently, Art Monk, former Hall of Fame wide receiver for the Washington Redskins joined a different class action lawsuit against Riddell Helmets and the NFL for not properly protecting them from the dangers of head trauma.

I realize that this is a fine line to be walking and I don’t want to minimize the suffering that certain players are experiencing. In my past articles, I have written about not wanting to see my favorite players crippled or suffering from early onset dementia due to their time on the field.

I do support greater safety for players and increased health benefits and insurance for former players. I think one of the greatest black-markets against both the NFL and the NFLPA is that neither has done enough to provide for those that built the game into what it is today.

All of that being said, there are two views that I feel need to be expressed that refute the actions of some former players.

First off, concussions and the NFL are a hot topic these days. It is not unheard of for those out of the spotlight to have a desire to want back in and are opening their mouths before they are able to speak and are risking tarnishing their names for the sake of a few more moments of recognition—Chris Carter I am talking to you.

News and sports shows now want to use concussions as a topic because it is going to garner ratings.

This means that every crackpot former player who wants to get on TV is going to have an opportunity to talk about their experiences and how they are suffering now. This is going to do great damage to the NFL as a whole and those former and current players that are suffering real effects of concussions and head trauma. But that will be lost in the rush to judgment that the public will make.

At a certain point, these attention seekers are going to be creating wasteful lawsuits against the NFL not based on suffering, but on greed. Unfortunately, the lawsuits will cause some damage to the NFL brand and cost the NFL a great deal of money simply because some of these former players want to grab some headlines.

Some of these lawsuits will become frivolous wastes of time and money and every reptile-like lawyer will find some former player that woke up one day with a headache and decide that it must be a concussion and sue the NFL. And let’s not forget the over 70 percent of former NFL players that are broke or in bankrupt procedures.

You don’t think that some shady lawyer is going to be able to create a correlation between repeated hits to the head and the inability to manage finances? We are a victim society so why should we be surprised when our favorite athletes who have lost all their money decide they want to play the victim card as well.

The second issue is the more or current players than the former players.

As much as I want to see the game become safer so that players can have a happier post-football life, at a certain point they have to accept the fact that they are making a conscious decision to suit up every week and play football.

The warnings of danger are now known, the potential post career issues are going to be well-documented and current players are not going to be able to claim they didn’t know. That would be like someone starting to smoke ten years ago and claiming that they had no idea that tobacco could cause cancer.

At a certain point we must put the burden of responsibility and consequences onto the person and not blame a corporation that has lots of money.

Football is a violent sport. That is why players are drawn to it and it's one of the reasons we the fans love it.

We like seeing the toughest, fastest guys try to blow each other up. We love seeing the battle between the lines and bone-crushing tackles. Why should it be a surprise that when 250 to 300 pounds of muscle consistently impact, they cause damage to each other?

Lawsuits can have the power to hurt the NFL; lawsuits can cost billions and ruin the game.

Aside from the financial impact of the lawsuits, they can force the NFL to alter its product, make it even safer, which means even more diluted.

Are these former players willing to risk the future of the NFL simply to get either another five minutes of fame on a talk show or a small portion of a class action suit?

You can hit me up on twitter @matt.f.rogers