Since the NFL owners and Players Union are still engaged in their "you know what" measuring contest, I'll hold off on the hot stove talk until the labor situation clears up. Instead I thought we should examine the problems NFL Players should be concerned about through the lens of a popular ex-Jet and current analyst Ray Lucas.
For most of use Ray Lucas is that familiar face alongside former Jet linebacker Greg Buttle, who breaks down Jet games on such SNY programs as Jets Nation and Jets Extra Point. However; for those of us who are old enough to remember, Ray Lucas was a standout quarterback at Rutgers before being signed by Bill Parcells and the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 1996. Lucas followed Parcells from the Patriots to the Jets where he served as the backup to Glen Foley and Vinny Testaverde. Lucas' crowning achievement in the NFL was in a Jets uniform during the 1999, season where the Jets were among the pre-season Super Bowl favorites, coming off their loss to the John Elway and the Broncos in the 1998 AFC Championship game. However; in the first game of the 1999 season, starting Quarterback, Vinny Testaverde ruptured his Achilles Tendon and the ball was thrust into the hands of former Notre Dame bust, Rick Mirer. Mirer was woefully ineffective, leading the Jets to a mediocre 4-6 record before the job was handed over to Lucas. Lucas came in and lost his first two games but finished strong, winning the last four enroute to helping the Jets salvage an 8-8 record.
Lucas left the Jets after the 2000 season to become the back-up for the Miami Dolphins. After two years with the Dolphins, he was let go and then picked up by the Baltimore Ravens. While in training camp with Ravens, Lucas suffered a devastating neck injury that cost him his playing career at age 30. Much like most retired NFL players, Lucas was left with little-to-no benefits, a minuscule pension and not nearly enough health care coverage to pay for the treatment of the injuries he sustained during his playing career. Lucas' injury left him with impinged nerves in his neck that made simple every day life into a constant struggle. The pain in his neck was so unbearable at times that Lucas even contemplated suicide. Although Lucas' condition was correctable, he could not afford to pay for the operation and when he went to the NFL Players Union, they said "there was nothing they could do for him." Lucas lived for the better part of seven years with debilitating pain, popping pain-killers like tic-tacs and ultimately and inevitably developed an addiction.
It was not until this past September that Lucas actually received help for his issue, in the form of Pain Alternative Solutions and Treatments' Retired Athlete's Medical Resource Group, which offers pro-bono consultation and treatment for retired athlete's whose insurance plans do not cover such procedures. PAST surgeon, Sebastian Lattuga performed Lucas' surgery free of charge in hopes that it would help alleviate his pain. Five months had passed since Lucas' surgery but he could not shake his addiction to pain killers and checked himself into rehab following the Super Bowl.
Unfortunately, Lucas' story is not an isolated incident, thousands of retired NFL players develop crippling physical injuries and become dependent on pain killers. In Lucas' case, he was taking an average of 300 pills a month, (around ten a day) and wore a morphine patch at all times. The NFL is a nine-billion, BILLION, dollar per year industry and the players that helped develop the game are left by the way side once their playing days are over, destitute, crippled, some aren't even capable of chewing their own food. In a game where the injury rate is 100%, players sacrifice their personal well-being and years on the ends of their lives, and the contracts are not even guaranteed. As it stands right now, the average life span of an NFL is around four years. In that finite amount of time these players need to accrue enough money to support themselves and their families for the rest of their lives, while accepting if that an injury could leave them unemployed with nothing more than a small buy-out and a boot in the rear.
The owners have the audacity to complain about the 56-44 players vs owners revenue breakdown, which mind you does not include the one billion dollars in guaranteed television revenue that the owners take off the top. Despite what the owners and players would have you think, there is more than enough money to go around and there is certainly enough to establish better benefits for retired players. However; the owners are not entirely to blame, the current players are extremely short-sighted and don't realize that their playing days will end someday and maybe even tomorrow considering how prevalent injuries are. It is the Antonio Cromartie's of the world that are too ignorant to realize that any moment they could become the next Ray Lucas or Dennis Byrd.
The notion that the owners want to add two more regular season games without increasing compensation or the creation of retirement benefits, while taking away revenue from the players is simply absurd and sheer greed. However; the owners command a considerable amount of leverage over the players. Although both sides stand to lose a considerable amount of money, there are around 500 free agents this year, otherwise known as unemployed unless an agreement is reached. The Players Union has an emergency fund but it is not nearly big enough to outlast the one billion dollar war-chest the owners posses. It will be hard for the players to remain united when 500 players, many of whom have families to provide for are job-less. It is obvious that concessions will need to be made on both sides but if the players can learn anything from Ray Lucas, its that they cannot take for granted their health and well-being because although Antonio Cromartie would have you believe different, life goes on after football.
