You have an undying zeal to right a big wrong! I commend you for what you’re doing and hope you never quit. You never did as a player and I don’t think you will now. In time, so many of us will owe you for all your efforts. Go get ‘em, Dave!

Gregg Bingham

Houston Oilers
1973 – 1984

Hope all is well with you. This is a great summary. It provides us with some additional avenues for consideration.

Kathy Smith

However, when a player becomes injured and can no longer play or his level of play has dropped off because of his injuries or age, then the game turns against the player.

NOTE: There’s a small percentage of retired players – maybe 5% – that the league likes to showcase to convince the public how well it treats its retired players while the other 95% become their enemies.

When a disabled player applies for disability, in 90% or more of the cases, the NFL orthopedic surgeon writes “sedentary” as the type of work the disabled player is able to perform. This doctor is not qualified to make employment decisions but the NFL has the power to make up their own rules. Any vocational aspects of the NFL disability plan are totally missing!

The Groom Law Group created this debacle which denies the injured player and his family access to their benefits. And the NFLPA Leadership continues to pay the Groom Law Group millions and millions of dollars a year to perpetrate this Ponzi scheme.

The NFL Leadership under the direction of De Smith would make a great first step by firing the Groom Law Group.

Now, factor in concussions and head injuries. The League is once again hiring unqualified orthopedic surgeons who are not trained brain doctors (or even educated here in the United States in some cases) to conduct studies to find out if getting hit in the head really hard for many years will cause head injuries (!). Everyone else seems to know the answer except the NFL.

The Retirement Board is another scandal with 3 retired players and 3 NFL management members and the Commissioner acting as the Chairman.

Oh, and the Commissioner isn’t sure if he’s the Chairman by his answer at his meeting in Dallas when asked if he was the Chairman by Conrad Dobler.

Tom Condon (super agent) as a long-term disability board member is a clear conflict of interest. Many of us wonder which of the few retired players he helps to approve are actually clients of his? Dave Duerson, an NFLPA Board member who has had failed business ventures and been convicted of domestic violence, isn’t qualified to manage himself or his family so how can he make decisions for others? Jeff Van Note who works for the Atlanta Falcons is also a board member; this is another clear conflict of interest.

Then there are the three NFL owners or representatives who always deny the claim for no valid reason.

The current disability system in the NFL is a complete debacle and needs to start over from the bottom up. It is so broken it CANNOT be fixed! How do you repair a house built on sand that’s falling apart?

The pensions need to at least match Major League Baseball (MLB).

Until the pensions/disability plan is brought up to these standards, the problems for retired players will continue!

All the new programs created by the Commissioner are gibberish and are only intended to mislead Congress. They are ALL virtually worthless! I know because I’ve tried to access them and they are preposterous.

Sincerely,
Dave & Heidi Pear