Brady Quinn & LaVar Arrington Plead the NFLPA to Pursue Lifelong Healthcare l 2 PROS & A CUP OF JOE

you guys can uh say what you want about tough skin but apparently you're going to need some tough skin if you want to play in the NFL moving forward you want to know why we were talking about smell but why it's used prominently in the NFL well okay well it's going to be used a lot more especially if they go to 18 games they're working on it aren't they yeah because it feels like that's on the horizon now Roger Goodell did talk yesterday about the potential and sort of what their thinking as far as the push back and sort of the things they need to get by in order to implement this this 18 Game season let's take a listen the key thing for us is uh looking at making sure we continue to do the things to make our game safer so we want to make sure that that hits the first boundary um 17 games is a long season so we want to make sure we look at that make sure that uh we continue the safety efforts you've seen a lot of the outcomes of that kickoff is a good example that hip drop so we're going to continue to do that that's number one working with our Players Association is number two uh you know we would reach an agreement with them if we're going to proceed on that level but we also third it it's this is not necessarily an order is is the quality of our game uh you know we would do it in the context of reducing the number of preseason games we think that's a a good trade less preseason games and more regular season games I think most anybody would think was beneficial but again those other two factors are really important I'm go beneficial to their wallets I mean that's the that's the truth if you think about preseason games who is it most beneficial for it's most beneficial for the the poorest of the NFL players it's the young players the rookies coming into the league because they haven't gotten up to that game speed in a real life game scenario in the NFL and it's the back end of the roster guys who are trying to make a roster because for the most part you know for the for the bigger name guys guys who are paid they're going to make it they're not even playing so it's really for the younger guys the back into the roster guys proving to you that they can play and that's unfortunately in the NFL the the lower income players of the NFL so of course Roger Goodell who represents the owners is going to say yeah it's not you know it's not really beneficial to anyone well it is beneficial it's beneficial to players it's beneficial to coaches to some degree you know the other thing we don't ever talk about is when you talk about like lack of development we don't talk about the lack of development with coaching staffs preseason games often times now are given you know position callers often times minority coaches that are on the staff an opportunity to call plays because once the real games come that's not happening as much but you might have an opportunity to hey hey you're calling the defense you're calling the offense for this this preseason game head coaches do that oftentimes to get some of their assistants some real live reps which is a great thing for young coaches in the league I I hate the fact that since Roger Goodell has taken over and I'm sure people are going to take shots at me for saying well it's a business that that you know they should be concerned about raising revenue you know creating putting more money in lining the pockets of the owners you are losing your product like you're losing a piece of this and your desire to try to make as much money as humanly possible for these owners you're going to lose the quality of the game the quality of the product in many different ways and so I get concerned about that and I I just hope Lloyd Jr now is taken over as was recently elected as the executive director for the NFL PA get lifetime Healthcare like that would be the biggest stamp ever for an executive director in my opinion for the NFL paa if they were able to get lifetime healthare do it retroactively by the way that's that's part of it yeah that's part of it because obviously the players who are you know currently you know playing in the NFL they'll receive it guys five years out they can receive it but it they that that comes in saying that it's going to be for the older Generations the older players typically most uh Collective bargain agreements have put in some you know protective measures for older players past generations and so I'm not just saying this for myself I'm standing it for guys who are way older than I am that need it right now badly and there's resources but just do it like that's the one thing that you can make these owners agree to say lifetime Healthcare that's a win win for everyone and then let's move forward that's the one big ticket item they need to push for every player should be for there's there shouldn't even be a debate on that it should just be Lifetime Health Care and figure it out whether it's for you know accredited you know players you know Five Seasons three whatever it is they'll come up with that number but they need to figure that out more than anything else yeah I just think it's it's it's almost like an oxymoron to say we're we want to make the game safer but then make the season longer I I just I I don't feel like how does that how does that make sense how does that how do you make that make sense other than to say what he said like the hip drop and the kickoff Rule and all this stuff you're altering a game and and and and I would say this you're banking on the fact that the the new added way of going about football is is is better than the traditional style and the traditional way of playing the game and and Roger Goodell has bet on himself and I mean and he has he has been on I mean it's not like he hasn't been a successful commissioner he has grown the the numbers he's grown the game The Reach of it it's it's seemingly working but I just wonder at what point do you start to look at a product and say it's watered down I mean I I just I think they're dangerously close to hitting a a space where you might actually look at a game that you truly love in a league that has become our America's pastime and and look at it and say this is this is pretty watered down you know that's my concern as I look at it do you guys have faith though that the NFL PA is going to push for Lifetime Health Care that they're going to think about the quality of the player as opposed to the quality of the dollar and how like like do you have confidence in that because I look at it from the outside and I go look it could get watered down and lifetime Healthcare is a great idea I'm skeptical that any of that is even factored in and ultimately we're going to get to an 18 game regular season within the next two years and and what's going to happen is the NFL PA is going to K agree to something that they're going to regret two or 3 years in promise it's going to be different the next time around and away we go with the discussion that's just going to keep going moving forward it just feels like that's where this always ends up I'm hoping it doesn't I'm hoping we've got I won a new leader and executive director Lloyd how Jr and I'm hoping there's enough strength amongst players where they should push for this but this is also something that you know if you look at how players tend to be able to get things done in the CBA or even when there's negotiations like that that you know take place in between the CBA negotiations often times like there's a campaign there's a coordinated effort and a campaign to kind of get this thing done and there hasn't been any so that's the hard part about you know my hope for what I think would be the best thing moving forward for every player and it should be a no-brainer in what is the dangerous most dangerous sport of any of the professional sports is push for it and and get it I mean there's other leagues that have other benefits to to what they have and for whatever reason the NFL has never set this as a precedent I should say the NFL PA has never made you know this a precedent or um you know their key initiatives of the collective borrowing agreement and I understand there's a lot of things that go into that but this still needs to be that one big ticket item and takeaway the owners come to the table with usually one to three things that are big ticket things they look for in this case we know what they want they want 18 games okay you want 18 games give us lifetime Healthcare and and here are the conditions in terms of which we're saying you know guys who are vested guys who' played in the league whether it's three five years whatever you do there there's always that point and and the owners will probably dictate that because they know the average career span for most players is under three years so they set it at a mark where it's going to take out if you do the bell curve about half of the players who make it in the NFL but never become vested and then that way that you know they can have an idea of what that number looks like in the future as healthcare costs continue to go up so that's what it's about but the that's the one thing I know I keep harping on this but it's it's needed a big time especially for past generations of players