2022 NFL News
- Thread starter dannobanano
- Start date
- Messages
- 6,076
- Reaction score
- 5,448
this comes from today's mail bag from tyler dunne. since this is a free publication, i hope it is okay to post here. if it isn't okay, please delete this post.
This Deshaun Watson saga only gets worse… and worse… and I’m glad you bring up Marion Barber’s death because — for some reason — this tragic story registered on Page Q11 in the back of our collective minds. I don’t get it. We all shouldn’t so easily motor right past a tragedy. Frankly, we need to do more at Go Long of covering what retired players are enduring once they’re finished. Last season, we sat down with Don Majkowski, Erik Kramer, and Ryan Leaf definitely spoke for many more retirees when he was near tears after Vincent Jackson’s death. We’ll do more, I promise.
Plainly put: this sport is different. This sport can do serious long-term damage to your brain, in addition to a lifetime of pain. It’s worth reading in full, but in the League of Denial prologue, authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru perfectly detail how the brain of a woodpecker can withstand the constant banging into a tree thanks to evolution. Their brains don’t slosh around within the skull. When football players bash into each other, on the other hand, there is such sloshing. It really doesn’t matter what type of helmet you strap around the skull. Our pal Doug Whaley wasn’t wrong when he caught heat as an NFL GM in saying football is a violent game that humans were not designed to play.
This isn’t to say the whole sport should be abolished. Hardly.
The beef here has always been that the NFL doesn’t own its violence. The decades-long denial. Maybe Roger Goodell and all of the owners aren’t actively trying to cover things up and discredit doctors, such as Bennet Omalu, but they sure have mastered the beautiful art of distraction. The league does a fine job of getting us to blab about anything but its own product doing serious damage to its participants’ brains and bodies. When people on both sides grew angry through the kneeling controversy of 2017, sure, the league’s power brokers knew they had to do some major PR damage control. But the suits probably weren’t too upset that we were all talking about something other than concussions. They got around to painting “End Racism” in end zones and — wouldn’t ya know! — it’s been a full nine years since the league’s $765 million concussion settlement. Since then, the public’s attention and interest toward CTE has gradually waned and the NFL’s deft ability to head-fake us all doesn’t hurt.
This doesn’t mean players are all doing A-OK in their post-playing lives. Not even close as Majkowski and Kramer explained.
Then, there’s Barber. The body of the former Cowboys running back was found in his Frisco, Texas apartment underneath a running hot shower. His father told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he believes his son was there for a number of days due to the decomposition of his body. In case folks missed it, here’s what Terence Newman said about his former Cowboys teammate in our recent Q&A. We were talking right when Newman found out Barber had died:
It’s been a rough offseason for all of the reasons you bullet.
How can the NFL be made better for society? All 32 teams could do more, starting with not giving someone accused of such vile behavior the most guaranteed money ever. That seems like a logical first step. Let’s not forget the Browns were not the only team pursuing Deshaun Watson. The Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints were courting the QB to the end. It’d sure be swell if teams all shared a moral compass or, bare minimum, some common sense in realizing this was such a god-awful look for everyone associated with the league. All outrage is completely justified because the entire courtship was ass-backwards from Day 1. Watson should’ve been the one trying to convince NFL teams to give him a chance. Not the other way around.
Instead, teams fawned over a player central to a litany of disturbing allegations.
Of course, we’ve heard this song before. Repeatedly. Owners, coaches, scouts, front-office execs all effectively become robots staring at a screen with a clicker. Devoid of human emotion. If a talent like this can get you wins and keep everyone gainfully employed, hey, that’s the bottom line. Wins. Wins. More wins. Teams will look past almost anything if it means a shot at a Super Bowl and no employee determines the employment of everyone else in an organization quite like the quarterback.
Since Watson was lights out the last time we saw him, he was in high demand.
The Browns aren’t rogue renegades. We’ve seen such soullessness before. This Watson ordeal is a symptom of a larger problem.
At what point, does this become a problem for the almighty shield? Suppose the same logic applies to hurting retirees. How much does anything contribute to the current product and the current pursuit of bigger TV contracts? Very little. Unless it gets so bad that people are actually refusing to watch NFL games (a 0.0002 percent chance), the NFL will remain a freight train plowing right past any bad press a potential CTE-related death, a Commander investigation, a Watson accusation gets. After all, fantasy football drafts are around the corner and there are dozens upon dozens of television shows telling you who to take.
Hey Tyler, hope all is well!
My question is … what needs to be done to make the NFL better for society? Lots in that question, but I’m thinking specifically of recent events:
-Deshaun Watson guaranteed contract despite allegations of sexual harassment
-Death of Marion Barber, and in general the way the league takes care (or doesn’t) of its retirees
-Investigation into discriminatory culture of Washington Commanders
-General safety of the game
All my moral senses are tingling in a way that’s like, “don’t support this.” And then the child in me who loves the game and watching the Chiefs says, “Whatever, keep watching.” I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels queasy about all this.
Peter
You are most certainly not alone, Peter. With you 100 percent. This is such a good question to start off with because I think we all grapple with the same moral dilemma.This Deshaun Watson saga only gets worse… and worse… and I’m glad you bring up Marion Barber’s death because — for some reason — this tragic story registered on Page Q11 in the back of our collective minds. I don’t get it. We all shouldn’t so easily motor right past a tragedy. Frankly, we need to do more at Go Long of covering what retired players are enduring once they’re finished. Last season, we sat down with Don Majkowski, Erik Kramer, and Ryan Leaf definitely spoke for many more retirees when he was near tears after Vincent Jackson’s death. We’ll do more, I promise.
Plainly put: this sport is different. This sport can do serious long-term damage to your brain, in addition to a lifetime of pain. It’s worth reading in full, but in the League of Denial prologue, authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru perfectly detail how the brain of a woodpecker can withstand the constant banging into a tree thanks to evolution. Their brains don’t slosh around within the skull. When football players bash into each other, on the other hand, there is such sloshing. It really doesn’t matter what type of helmet you strap around the skull. Our pal Doug Whaley wasn’t wrong when he caught heat as an NFL GM in saying football is a violent game that humans were not designed to play.
This isn’t to say the whole sport should be abolished. Hardly.
The beef here has always been that the NFL doesn’t own its violence. The decades-long denial. Maybe Roger Goodell and all of the owners aren’t actively trying to cover things up and discredit doctors, such as Bennet Omalu, but they sure have mastered the beautiful art of distraction. The league does a fine job of getting us to blab about anything but its own product doing serious damage to its participants’ brains and bodies. When people on both sides grew angry through the kneeling controversy of 2017, sure, the league’s power brokers knew they had to do some major PR damage control. But the suits probably weren’t too upset that we were all talking about something other than concussions. They got around to painting “End Racism” in end zones and — wouldn’t ya know! — it’s been a full nine years since the league’s $765 million concussion settlement. Since then, the public’s attention and interest toward CTE has gradually waned and the NFL’s deft ability to head-fake us all doesn’t hurt.
This doesn’t mean players are all doing A-OK in their post-playing lives. Not even close as Majkowski and Kramer explained.
Then, there’s Barber. The body of the former Cowboys running back was found in his Frisco, Texas apartment underneath a running hot shower. His father told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he believes his son was there for a number of days due to the decomposition of his body. In case folks missed it, here’s what Terence Newman said about his former Cowboys teammate in our recent Q&A. We were talking right when Newman found out Barber had died:
 |
How can the NFL be made better for society? All 32 teams could do more, starting with not giving someone accused of such vile behavior the most guaranteed money ever. That seems like a logical first step. Let’s not forget the Browns were not the only team pursuing Deshaun Watson. The Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints were courting the QB to the end. It’d sure be swell if teams all shared a moral compass or, bare minimum, some common sense in realizing this was such a god-awful look for everyone associated with the league. All outrage is completely justified because the entire courtship was ass-backwards from Day 1. Watson should’ve been the one trying to convince NFL teams to give him a chance. Not the other way around.
Instead, teams fawned over a player central to a litany of disturbing allegations.
Of course, we’ve heard this song before. Repeatedly. Owners, coaches, scouts, front-office execs all effectively become robots staring at a screen with a clicker. Devoid of human emotion. If a talent like this can get you wins and keep everyone gainfully employed, hey, that’s the bottom line. Wins. Wins. More wins. Teams will look past almost anything if it means a shot at a Super Bowl and no employee determines the employment of everyone else in an organization quite like the quarterback.
Since Watson was lights out the last time we saw him, he was in high demand.
The Browns aren’t rogue renegades. We’ve seen such soullessness before. This Watson ordeal is a symptom of a larger problem.
At what point, does this become a problem for the almighty shield? Suppose the same logic applies to hurting retirees. How much does anything contribute to the current product and the current pursuit of bigger TV contracts? Very little. Unless it gets so bad that people are actually refusing to watch NFL games (a 0.0002 percent chance), the NFL will remain a freight train plowing right past any bad press a potential CTE-related death, a Commander investigation, a Watson accusation gets. After all, fantasy football drafts are around the corner and there are dozens upon dozens of television shows telling you who to take.
- Messages
- 6,595
- Reaction score
- 11,055
In a world without lawyers, the NFL could run alms houses in every state where they operate and take care of the head cases like Marion Barber. Most guys that run through the league are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves after they're done playing, but a lot of these guys aren't. They have issues - the same issues made them play the game to begin with maybe but they have problems. There's an argument that the league is responsible for them, and there's no question they can afford it.
- Messages
- 18,358
- Reaction score
- 6,350
NFL treats their retired players pretty well
awmcap.com
Now people who get screwed over? Our military men and women who's bodies and minds are broken a lot more then a NFL players often and our govt to often forgets about them.
The NFL Retirement Plan: Everything You Need to Know (2022) — AWM Capital
NFL players earn life-changing money at a young age, but many go broke before they receive a pension. Learn everything about NFL retirement here.
awmcap.com
Now people who get screwed over? Our military men and women who's bodies and minds are broken a lot more then a NFL players often and our govt to often forgets about them.
- Messages
- 18,358
- Reaction score
- 6,350
I call BS no one place on a torn ACL. The knee is not stable.
www.cbssports.com
Odell Beckham Jr. claims he played 'whole back half of' last season with a torn ACL
OBJ indicated that he didn't tear his ACL in the Super Bowl
www.cbssports.com
- Messages
- 6,595
- Reaction score
- 11,055
The government built massive places for civil war veterans to live, there were plans to expand them that never happened. Now we are incapable of doing the same thing. Once our fighting men come back from their service, almost every level of the American system seems to despise them and hold them in contempt, it's criminal.NFL treats their retired players pretty well
The NFL Retirement Plan: Everything You Need to Know (2022) — AWM Capital
NFL players earn life-changing money at a young age, but many go broke before they receive a pension. Learn everything about NFL retirement here.
Now people who get screwed over? Our military men and women who's bodies and minds are broken a lot more then a NFL players often and our govt to often forgets about them.
- Messages
- 13,783
- Reaction score
- 6,616
The thing is the NFL never cared about players until the CTE stuff got into courtrooms. They looked the ofter way for decades on steroids and performance enhancing drugs. Players were and to some extent still are commodities to owners.NFL treats their retired players pretty well
The NFL Retirement Plan: Everything You Need to Know (2022) — AWM Capital
NFL players earn life-changing money at a young age, but many go broke before they receive a pension. Learn everything about NFL retirement here.
Now people who get screwed over? Our military men and women who's bodies and minds are broken a lot more then a NFL players often and our govt to often forgets about them.
- Messages
- 18,358
- Reaction score
- 6,350
Yeah but I think it was known for a long time that it was not smart to get tons on concussions and keep playing. These players are getting a lot of money to take a risk. Players have to choose future health over money. Look at the former Badgers LB with the 49ers retired after a year because he was worried over health risks.
- Messages
- 4,861
- Reaction score
- 3,610
While the general population holds them in high regard they don't vote for politicians who give a s$$$. So rich politicians send our men and women to war to get richer and yet the country doesn't punish those politicians for turning thier backs once they return
- Messages
- 13,783
- Reaction score
- 6,616
Does not excuse the league for turning its back on players for decades. For every Borland there are 50 who need the check and disregard the risk. Owners for decades have looked at players as commodities.