Concussions: Are players enemies of their own – Part Two
A number of reports, including a survey by the American news agency, Associated Press (AP), have confirmed the choice of a majority of players of hiding their concussions to keep intact their chances of playing the game without any disruption in their career.
Will that make the players enemies of their own, or is there another perspective to it?
According to Jacksonville Jaguars’ running back, Maurice Jones-Drew, it has an economic perspective to it.
He said it is the worry of financially support their families continuously that forces a majority of players to hid the head injuries in the absence of the chances of them being unlikely to be picked by any team on the league while they are injured and unfit
to play.
He said:
"The bottom line is: You have to be able to put food on the table. No one's going to sign or want a guy who can't stay healthy. I know there will be a day when I'm going to have trouble walking. I realize that. But this is what I signed up for. Injuries
are part of the game. If you don't want to get hit, then you shouldn't be playing."
He himself shown willingness to hid one to remain active on the roster of his team and continue fetch earnings.
His comments had come soon after Cleveland Browns’ quarterback, Colt McCoy, was allowed to resume his game in spite of suffering concussion.
McCoy's case was different in a sense that he was not inspected by his team’s trainers and medical staff apparently for concussion.
This has led to the NFL inquiry and then positioning of a certified athletic trainer at Press Box for monitoring of the injury.
His injury and consequent handling of it has highlighted the fact once again how much players are prone to head injuries and do not have alternative to sustained income during their phase of recovery.
According to the above disclosures, many players have hidden concussion in the past and compromised on their safety in the longer run to be able to consistently support their families.
This is something that the league’s officials should taken an urgent note of and come with measures such as health insurances for the players to support them during the time of financial direness.
None of the players who said would chose to hide their head injuries have revealed terms of their deals with their respective teams, and especially if there were any term bounding their team to continue keep their players on their pay roster in the phase
of their recovery and rehabilitation.
In spite of the players’ survey and disclosures by some other players, the league office has not thrown a light on this perspective of the head injuries.
So, the matter remains unconfirmed officially and until and unless its credibility is validated by the league office or the players’ union, no measure to counter its continuation is expected in the future.
NFL office has repeated spoken of its priorities on the safety and security of players, they have never hinted at whether they were monitoring this aspect of the concussions.
The league office, which often reviews and comes up with amendments in its rules with regard to different aspect of the game and players involvement, is likely to be reviewing the matter of concussions handling sometimes this offseason.
The handling of concussions has gained more prominence for the league in the face of ongoing controversy and criticisms of it over the handling of the injuries.
A number of former player have waged a legal fight against the league office over its handling of their concussions.
Almost all of them are seeking compensation to what they called sufferings that they and their families had been through as a result of their injuries.
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