why is it not workers comp???The NFL and NFLPA should step up and support these players.
There isn’t a legal requirement, but a billion dollar a year business should do more for these guys.
Oh, Good God.... These players make exponentially more than 99% of everyone else. How about a little self-responsibility?
All NFL employees, coaches, players, etc. should pay into an insurance pool out of those large pay packages.
Players would pay a higher rate since they are more prone to injuries.
Too simple?
I do, however, think the NFL has at least a moral responsibility to help the players who sacrificed their health for the sport. They certainly have the means. During this man's career professional football became the most popular spectator sport in the country and the league and owners became very wealthy.
um... Obamacare?
why is it not workers comp???The Owners get rich off these guys. Let the Owners pay.
Duh -- either the player, team, or league, depending on what the contract said that they signed when they became players.
How much money did Reggie Williams earn during his long career?
It’s certain that it is much more than what the average working stiff made who had to take care of his own medical bills.
They can foot their own bills.
Hmm. So let me get this straight. The players work hard to be good at their sport. What drives them, I assume, is the dream to be a pro some day. And what fuels that dream is all the big money they’ll make. So they make it to the pros. They make millions of dollars — by VOLUNTARILY participating in an occupation that they know will damage their bodies — and after they rake in their millions, they want someone else to pay for the injuries they sustained under their own volition.
Sound like a bunch of unionized Victim-ists to me.
My response? Pay your own bills.
Hello - isn’t that part of the sport? You choose to play a game for a living that involves intense physical contact, you get paid a salary that is more than the majority of their average fans... then plan for that. Put money back for that.
A fellow that was a couple of years behind me in high school, eventually went on to have a pretty successful career in the NFL. I remember when he was drafted, he pursued all sorts of insurance policies to insure his future against injuries and other troubles that can come from the game. The insurance is out there. It’s expensive (but so is insurance for someone who is extremely obese and also engages in extremely unsafe activities).
It seems strange that Williams would not have been advised to take out such insurance. Or maybe he did and this report
doesn’t tell the “rest of the story”?
Regardless - I am just waiting for someone to suggest the government bail him and others out...
Destroying your body for financial gain is stupid and irresponsible.
I don’t feel even a little sorry for these players.
The fans.
“The recipient of an academic scholarship”...to an IVY LEAGUE school, none the less...
Did football knock his brains loose???
Play college ball. Earn a college degree. When the body can’t cut it anymore, the degree is the backup plan. I know that is what I have always heard preached.
ego-maniacal idiot in Los Angeles with more dollars than sense brings a team here to screw over the traffic even more than it already is.
Oh good grief. The players make a cajillion dollars a year. Maybe instead of buying a 5 million mansion they could get a 1 million dollar house and have some left over for health insurance. They knew what they were signing up for.
Reggie may have gone to Dartmouth but he has failed to figure out that the way to get money from the NFL right now is to claim brain damage. Drool a bit and mumble for us, Reg. You’ll get more sympathy. Sorry you have to lie to get what you need, Mr. Williams, but it how 47% of your countrymen now live.
Gee, how much could it cost to amputate the whole leg?