I've always wondered what the medical standard is for clearing an NFL player to be fit to play, and how it can possibly comply with any code of medical ethics. Did the medical profession come up with a special standard just for the NFL so the doctors don't have to violate the code? At least make them give full disclosure of the risks, which they obviously didn't do in regard to brain-related problems.
Will someone please tell these immensely wealthy players that they can probably squeeze in their own health policies for about $12-15K a year. Out of $3 million-`5 million, I suspect they have enough left to cover it.
There is, fair or not, a penalty for being dumb. Google lets these guys look up whatever they want, and some of them could buy their own MRI machines with all their cash.
Another odd take in the article : "The N.F.L. has for generations been built on the backs of players willing to sacrifice their long-term health for a paycheck." Well, isn't that better than being built on the backs of men badly paid? What's the part of the deal that is unfair? Belson acts like these guys play at risk of being shot. From what the Times sport section reports, these guys beg, borrow and sometimes steal to get into the NFL.
You go in the army, you may get shot. You go into the NFL, it may hurt.
So how much money would your employer have to pay you for you to permanently damage your long term health? You clearly think it’s all about money, so you must have a figure in mind. What is it, to the penny?
And would your “immense wealth” allow you to read those MRI results as well as conduct the scan yourself. Or would you hire well trained medical professionals to run your MRI machine and unbiased doctors to interpret the results for you and recommend treatment options? Or would you just use the doctors and techs that your employer mandates, hires and pays and accept their judgements without question regardless of what your own body is telling you?
3
Injuries and long term health effects on players is the main reason why I watch very little football now.
A longer season will negatively effect players’ health.
1
The average American earns 2.7 million over their lifetime. The median NFL pay is over 850,000$/yr. The minimum is 480,000$/yr, all for a part time job. it's too bad the average worker doesn't have the option to work 3-4 years and make as much as they could in a lifetime. I'm not sympathetic to billionaire owners or millionaire players.
4
@Al really ... 3-4 years ? you forget most of those players started around age 7 or 8 in Pop Warner football. and that the vast majority never ever make it to the NFL. And the average tenure of an NFL player is 4-5 years. And that between Uncle Sam and agents etc ... a player may see half that 850,000/480,000 salary. And oh! dont get hurt cause your average player doesn't get guaranteed signing bonus of consequence. So, I get your characterization to point, but the pie must be shared and deployed equitably ... whether its $15 or several million $.
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@Al
But... how would you feel if during those 3-4 years you sustained a workplace injury, and your employer reserved the right to decide what medical treatment was appropriate for you?
8
I’m sorry. But your harsh assessment doesn’t hold up beyond those super stars like Brady. The average NFL career is about 3 years. Then what? They have a broken body, no skills for today’s high tech economy. Their agents and other parasitic cling ons gave garnished much of the accrued incomes. I’m no defender of pro sports. But these guys pay a price for a trade that is a 10th of most working people’s careers. And then their employees are going to cheat them out of proper medical attention? Surely you jest!
9
"The safety and well-being of our players is paramount." Yeah, right.
5
I love the part where it’s assumed the team physician is a man.
1
At the end of the day, football is exploitative. I'm glad that players are showing their power by standing up for themselves.
4
What is amazing to me is that all 3 of these players come from what are consistently bad organizations. Truly terrible how disposable they think their players are.
4
"...Osemele ended a public showdown with the Jets when he had season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder even though the team did not authorize the procedure. The Jets, whose doctors had determined that Osemele was well enough to play, released him."
Good for Osemele. He's young. His body has to last him the rest of his life... He may have injured his shoulder, but he has his head on straight.
15
The Player's Association's counter offer to the 17 game proposal should be 14 games.
The NFL was perfectly healthy with 14 games and their mindless push to make more money on the backs of these players is sickening. The NFL won't ever get another dime from me.
6
Wow. Imagine having your health care dictated to you by a for-profit corporation. It’s almost like... the American health insurance system/scam!
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The NFL is a highly unethical organization and its product is almost entirely commercials and down time in between plays. Why do people watch this garbage?
1
Health over paychecks? Why don't they opt for a good education and get out of the football cesspool? Oh, no. They actually prefer the paychecks when it comes down to it.
So many comments from liberals who would never be caught watching sports.
Until actual fans start saying something, these news will go unnoticed
The NFL will erode over time. The looming issue of CTE practically guarantees that better-educated parents will increasingly prohibit their kids from playing. It may take awhile - it took decades for smoking to cease being de rigueur, even given the known health risks, but it happened - and the same will happen with FB and CTE. Medical disputes like the ones in this article will only hasten fans to become former fans.
5
@Stratman you obviously haven’t been paying attention to the trending IQ level of Americans today. It suggests Football will only get bigger. Knowledge of the fan base and those who play is all one needs to know to understand why. Let me see, $9 p/hr gig as security at Walmart or $9 million per season to run around in tights and have the admiration of the entire city.
I’m an investment banker with no horse in this race, but I’m not so naive to believe 3 players sets a trend, when 3,000+ college athletes annually leave college dreaming, dying to play in the NFL. I guess that tidbit was not clearly articulated in the story.
1
There should NOT be team doctor because of the inherent conflict of interest in such relationships. I have worked for many Fortune 500 companies. They do not have company doctors. Why should a for-profit sports franchise?
7
these players are the exception, not the rule. The NFL still wrecks bodies and minds. There is also an ongoing opioid problem amongst NFL players and retirees.
6
I think it bears noting that the 3 players mentioned play for 3 of the worst teams in football. The Bengals are the only winless team remaining, the Redskins are the only 1 win team remaining, and the Jets are one of four two loss teams.
It almost would seem as if their might be a connection between treating players poorly and having a bad team.
PS: I realize it could be other things (e.g. randomness, another unaccounted variable, etc.).
3
It is nice to see players advocating for themselves. No company should be allowed to prioritize profits over the health of its employees, regardless of their income.
13
If they want to lengthen the regular season, then they should agree that no player may play more than 16 games during the regular season. If you want more money that's fine, but not at the risk of the players' health (which is already too high).
4
Owners want 18 games? Fine. Then expand the roster size to 75 or 80 players, and pay them all according to the CBA wage scale. Owners are content to whip up public opinion against players who they characterize as 'greedy' and 'selfish' even as they benefit from an unpaid minor league (the NCAA) and little public scrutiny of the money they make from merchandizing, media, hospitality, etc. All while asking citizens of NFL cities to subsidize unnecessary stadium construction so they can make even more money from luxury suites.
Let's rip away the veil and let the public see ALL of the owners' profits. Let's have every shady team diagnosis and every pressuring conversation with a trainer or a coach about lost playing time and risk to player livelihood made public. I doubt if all of that were out there, the players hoping for a decent middle age would be criticized nearly as harshly as they are right now by NFL fans.
Let's also have NFL owners contribute to a pool of money to be made available to college players. Let's stop them from dangling the carrot of riches in front of hopeful young amateurs who believe they will defy the odds and make it to the NFL. These waves of desperate young players are leverage NFL owners use to avoid treating their current employees with anything approaching fairness.
When Joe Lunchbucket says he has little sympathy for highly paid, pampered millionaires, he should make sure he's talking about the right ones: NFL owners, not players.
30
@Mike
The players are millionaires, who become physically debilitated in middle age. The owners are all billionaires who live off of their football “gladiators.” The Forbes 2019 valuation of NFL teams are ranked in order. The top two are the Dallas Cowboys valued at 5.5 billion dollars (B) and the Boston Patriots at 4.1 B. The last two, at 31 and 32 respectively, are the Detroit Lions at 1.95 B and the Buffalo Bills at 1.9 B.
1
Some things are resolved through the collective bargaining process but others must be resolved through the courts.
When it is appropriate, there must be criminal sanctions available against the teams and the NFL. Some time in jail would, no doubt, do wonders to improve owners understanding of the rules.
8
So the owners want to lengthen the season to 17 games instead of 18. How benevolent of them. Lengthening the season to 16 games from 14 was too much. The owners’ greed knows no boundaries, and then they try to placate the players by telling them that playing a longer season will give them a bigger cut of the profits. Any amount of money will not replace a healthy body. Yet another reason I stopped following professional sports altogether.
23
This article reminds me why I have stopped watching football. It also leads me to my conclusion that baseball is our national sport, even though there are many flaws. That’s because, I believe, baseball players have better protection than those in the NFL. It’s an aspect of our country’s struggle to make money and corporations less important than people.
19
I am glad to see players speaking up for their bodies and dismissing the masculinity model that prescribes and glorifies playing through pain. Who will be around to pick up the damage as it mounts and they no longer enrich the coffers of the NFL? We know the answer to that. I am glad the number of high school children playing football is decreasing in many states. I look at all the fast head motion secondary to various kinds of contact in football and its plentiful. I hope players who pursue independent health evaluations will grow more numerous and powerful such that the NFL has to be more accountable than they are being with the three athletes in this article.
13
These players need to get together and change how football is played. I don't think improving the helmets and body armor is going to protect them.
9