My dad played in the NFL for 10 years. I can tell you from experience. This is a real problem. My dad has has had behavioral and cognitive issues all the way back to the late 80s early 90s they started around 10 years after retirement. He is still the same guy to me but I see him struggle.
People who don’t know I have a dad who played will say. “Hey they know what they are getting into”. This may be the case now but back in the 70’s if you didn’t play you were out on your butt. He played with a broken ankle it swelled up so bad the trainer had to cut his shoe off. They taped his shoe back on and he went out and played second half. He even broke his back at some point and still played, found out years later during another medical procedure. He had no idea they just said did you know you broke your back at some point?
They used to call it getting your bell rung. He had a story while playing where he had to destroy the Wedge during the second half kick off. He said it rung his bell so bad he didn’t remember any of the second half. He played the whole second half.
Now it looks like the newer players in the NFLPA negotiated for the older guys without permission for 765 million settlement for 18,000 players. This is not even close to the amount it should have been and the older players were not properly represented. The NFL needs to pay for the care of these older guys as they become unable to care for themselves. $42,500 per player is not enough to care for my Dad for the next 10 to 15 years. The NFL owes the old guys for building their league with their bodies and minds. Now take care of these guys.
My dad played in the NFL for 10 years. I can tell you from experience. This is a real problem. My dad has has had behavioral and cognitive issues all the way back to the late 80s early 90s they started around 10 years after retirement. He is still the same guy to me but I see him struggle.
People who don’t know I have a dad who played will say. “Hey they know what they are getting into”. This may be the case now but back in the 70’s if you didn’t play you were out on your butt. He played with a broken ankle it swelled up so bad the trainer had to cut his shoe off. They taped his shoe back on and he went out and played second half. He even broke his back at some point and still played, found out years later during another medical procedure. He had no idea they just said did you know you broke your back at some point?
They used to call it getting your bell rung. He had a story while playing where he had to destroy the Wedge during the second half kick off. He said it rung his bell so bad he didn’t remember any of the second half. He played the whole second half.
Now it looks like the newer players in the NFLPA negotiated for the older guys without permission for 765 million settlement for 18,000 players. This is not even close to the amount it should have been and the older players were not properly represented. The NFL needs to pay for the care of these older guys as they become unable to care for themselves. $42,500 per player is not enough to care for my Dad for the next 10 to 15 years. The NFL owes the old guys for building their league with their bodies and minds. Now take care of these guys.