How the NFL and NFLPA Can Step Up to Help Former Players

Player safety in the NFL has never been a more important issue than it is today, nor has it ever been a more public one.

For the first time in the recent history of professional football, the general public is beginning to stand up and take notice of the physical consequences that the players face, both on the field and after their retirement.

The results of that scrutiny haven’t been pretty.

A growing body of research has showed that former NFL players suffer from a laundry list of mental and physical long-term effects after they leave the sport. Some of those effects can be addressed through medical intervention, but others linger for the rest of the players’ lives.

The response to those findings has been swift.

Within the NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell has enacted a series of on-the-field rules that will theoretically ensure better player safety both in short term and in the long term. While many of those rules—particularly moving kickoffs to the 35-yard-line—have proved to be wildly unpopular, they have all been done in the name of player safety.

In the wake of a seemingly unending stream of reactionary measures in the name of player safety, there has been a lot of commotion about what these rule changes mean for the NFL and the direction that the game is headed.

We’re in a phase of touch-and-go uncertainty when it comes to what, exactly, constitutes a legal hit or a defenseless receiver. Major events like the New Orleans Saints Bountygate scandal have further hyperfocused attention on the rules and consequences of those actions in today’s NFL.

But what about the players of the past?

Junior Seau’s suicide, while tragic, has highlighted that the vast majority of attention has been paid to the current action highlighted in the media. The retired players for whom these concerns were raised in the first place have largely fallen to the wayside of the public eye.

Sure, these players have stood up for themselves: Legal action has been taken as retired players have begun to unite. In fact, there are well over 1,000 former players involved.

The latest CBA was also a win for those retired players, as the NFL and the NFLPA agreed to set up better benefits for former players with neurological disorders and have both pledged to set aside $100 million over the next 10 years for research.

In the wake of all of the new information that has come out in the past year, though, are those concessions enough?

Probably not.

This offseason, the NFL and the NFLPA have a decision to make. They can choose to sit back and allow the former players to move forward with their lawsuit, a move that will surely result in a long, drawn out and very public battle where both sides lose credibility.

Or, they can choose to voluntarily acknowledge their responsibility to former players by stepping up before they are forced to do so and offering more to the players who gave their health to the system.

Research on concussions is a good start, but the pledged funds are a drop in the bucket compared to the money passed through the NFL each year.  The NFL and NFLPA could—should, even—double or even triple that amount, and they could do so graciously in honor of Seau’s memory.

Bringing the pool up to $200 million or $300 million and spreading the additional funds to research into spinal and knee injuries would demonstrate that these organizations are cognizant that the physical trauma that the players’ bodies undergo during their time in the NFL is not simply limited to the head.

Injuries to these areas of the body can be just as crippling as head injuries over time, both physically and emotionally.

Instituting a viable outreach program for former players who find it difficult to adjust to life after football would be another step that the NFL and NFLPA could take to help former players.

Regardless of whether Seau’s death is ultimately ruled the result of a concussion sustained in the NFL or for some other reason, the NFL cannot ignore that the game of football is a violent sport. Some of the participants will inevitably find that they cannot find their way to happiness in retirement. Call it a form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

With Seau, the warning signs of a depressive spiral were clear to anyone who was watching. The man drove his car off a cliff in 2010. Yet he wasn’t the NFL or the NFLPA’s responsibility to care about any longer.

Here is another opportunity for these organizations to step up before a lawsuit forces their hands.

A mandatory mental health clearance after retirement could identify many of the players who cannot make the adjustment. The men who may not seek out a mental health professional because they don’t recognize the need likely won’t be able to hide the warning signs from a trained professional.  A small intervention when players leave the league could make an enormous difference for the rest of their lives.

Finally, the NFL and NFLPA must also find a way to ensure that bounty programs are truly halted before they are able to get started, but without turning this matter into a witch hunt.

It is certainly reasonable to believe that bounty programs like the one in New Orleans exist around the league, but any system where teammates encourage and reward one another to deliberately injure the opposing players has no place in modern football.  

Putting a stop to those programs can be done through actions much simpler and more effective than fining or temporarily suspending only a few players and coaches involved. Instead of playing that game of media relations, simply kick the participants out of the league if there is indisputable proof of participation or coordination. Permanently.

Bounty programs won’t survive more than a couple of teams becoming decimated because the players and coaches were caught.

Taking action to stop the spread of bounty programs in the league today won’t help players who may have fallen victim to similar programs in years past, but it sets a precedent that the NFL’s stance on player safety isn’t simply lip service to quiet critics.

From monetary and time donations to setting better standards on the field today, there are certainly plenty of other ways that the NFL and the NFLPA could choose to step up now to help former players.

Regardless of what unfolds, it is becoming clear that life after football is not as pretty a picture as it has been made out to be. The NFL and the NFLPA must accept their share of the responsibility to give back to the men.