NFL Player Saftey: Does the NFL Really Care About the Health of Its Players?

Recently the NFL has preached to fans that the health and safety of its players are primary concerns. Stricter guidelines are in place for monitoring and caring for concussions. The safety of player equipment has improved. Fines for hits have become more frequent and more expensive.  Penalty flags are now handed out like Halloween candy. But is safety truly the league's primary concern? I don't buy it for a second.

Equipment technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the past decade. Now we have $200 anti-shock mouth guards. New helmets are proven to both reduce the frequency and severity of concussions. 

If the NFL (or any professional sports league for that matter) were absolutely concerned foremost with player health and safety, the safest equipment would be mandatory for all players. There would be no grandfathering in old equipment, no retaining an older, less safe piece of equipment for its style, and no discussion, period. 

But even the best equipment in the world can only protect players if it is used and used properly. 

Rather than penalizing a player for a hard clean hit that just happens to knock a player's helmet off, why not fine players for every time a piece of equipment isn't properly used? If a chinstrap is unbuckled during a play, it's a $2,000 fine. If a mouth guard isn't in during a play, it's a $1000 fine. 

The NFL dutifully hands out fines for  writing on equipment so enforcement should not be an issue. Surely this will improve safety and preserve the spirit of the game much more effectively and safely than litigating hard clean hits.

When it comes to hard hits, oddly the NFL seems more concerned with one side of the ball with regards to safety.  The NFL heavily favors the offense over the defense. 

Penalties for hits on defenseless players are called twenty times more often against the defense than the offense. Offensive lineman routinely run down field trying to lay out an uninvolved inattentive player standing near the pile. These are almost never called (unless they are after the whistle). 

Wide receivers often throw savage blindside blocks on defensive players who are chasing the ball and unaware of their impending doom, which are again, rarely if ever called. Hines Ward and James Harrison both play for the same team. One is the league's most heavily fined and considered its dirtiest player (I don't agree) and the other is considered the best blocking wide receiver in football. 

The only real difference is that one plays offense and the other plays defense.   

Given all this information, what is the NFL's true motive for this new hyper-aggresive health and safety stance? It is of course to protect its stars. Many remember Tom Brady's whiny diatribe about the hits quarterbacks were taking a few years back. 

In the next game I am certain that a defensive player shook Tom's hand and was flagged for unnecessary roughness. This was followed by Brady popping to his feet with a huge grin on his face. 

So far, all the NFL has really done is attempt to insult my intelligence as a fan.