This topic involving the NFL with drugs and concussions has
been floating around the media for quite some time now and although some action
has been taken resulting in many lawsuits some may still say it is a problem
for the face of the NFL.
Many retired players today are struggling immensely with
both physical and mental health issues that will probably end up haunting them
for the rest of their lives, but, what are the NFL doing to help these players
who used to be the faces that made the league what it is today, a billion
dollar industry? The answer is little or nothing. In an article I read in the
US News involving a former Buffalo Bills star Darryl Talley wrote that he has
been struggling ever since retirement with health and financial issues. Darryl
stated that he considered suicide because of the physical pain he endured daily
and with little help from the NFL, his previous employer who states they had
nothing to do with his injuries, he has no choice but to think that way. He has
taken hits, beatings and torment to the head and the body because of the work
he put in daily for his team and the NFL.
The NFL needs to be more sensitive to this topic and look
after those players who served in the league from past years. According to US
News “NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in 2010 should be making in the
neighborhood of $25 billion in revenues a year by 2027. And Goodell, like the
owners, doesn’t have to mark notches on pigskin to keep count of how many
concussions he’s suffered for the money he’s making.” If the league is making
that much revenue then surely they can give the NFL a better name by serving
these former players what they deserve for making the NFL a prestige league
that it is today.
The NFL must make the field a war of attrition but it must
also be safe for the players so that they can live a long healthy life and not
just 15 years of glory while being a pro footballer. The NFL’s priority must be
health and safety over money that way the reputation of the NFL is good and not
always down in the mouth in the media.
I enjoyed this article on the effects drugs and concussion has caused the NFL. However, before we're so quick to judge what the NFL has done or more importantly what they haven't been doing. I'd caution you to not judge so quickly, the NFL has released a severance package to all victims to be dispersed for anyone who has suffered with concussion problems. They had to do so last year. Also what I think goes unnoticed is that these players are the best of the best, the most elite players in the world all competing at the highest level. So I would ask, if you are paid to play the game you love, how would you feel if the trainer wanted to sit you because you didn't pass a concussion symptoms test but you feel fine? Would you be thinking 'hey i should probably not play today because of what it might do to me in twenty years' or would you want to be in the game with your teammates competing? I"m not saying it's okay to let this issue go unnoticed I'm just saying there is two sides to the story and the NFL isn't the only bad guy in this situation. If the players were more worried about their future I think we would see a different lifestyle off of the field by the players of the league.
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