Nothing quiets an NFL stadium like a crushing blow to a player’s head. It’s terrifying to watch him being carted off the field, head stabilized on a stretcher.
Those injuries are why the NFL is under constant pressure to do more to combat concussions and protect the future of football. The loudest voice in the room when it comes to blaming the league for concussions is the NFL Players Association. But the NFLPA is one of the most culpable actors in keeping those violent hits in the game.
After next season, the NFL and the players will negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. You can be sure that the subject of how the league handles concussions will come up. The debate is already framed around how the league needs to do more, yet it is the players association that regularly pushes back on the current efforts by the league to reduce head injuries.
If the NFLPA is serious about stopping head injuries, it should allow the NFL to hand out harsher punishments against players who assault their fellow athletes.
When you see a helmet-to-helmet hit, you know the responsible player will be flagged for a penalty and possibly fined or suspended by the league. The NFL has banned such hits to protect players.
But if the offending player is suspended, you can be sure of another thing — the NFLPA will appeal the suspension and fight for the player who dealt the illegal and dangerous hit so that he can come back onto the field as soon as possible.
In this week’s Thursday Night Football game, viewers were treated to one of the more vicious attacks, as Browns’ star Myles Garrett ripped Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet off his head, then used the helmet as a club, as if he were in an 1800s gang fight. I assure you — it is against the rules to use a player’s own head protector to bash in his skull.
Garrett has been suspended, and the NFLPA will appeal it.
Whether or not the appeal is successful, Garrett will eventually be back on the field, and you can be sure that the man who is now most famous for using safety equipment as a weapon will again try to traumatize the brains of his fellow union members. He’s done it before, and the NFLPA defended him.
The NFLPA likes to blame the NFL for brain injuries, but because of its stance of fully backing its members against the league, its work to get assailants back on the field directly leads to the violent hits it blames on the league.
At some point, the NFLPA needs to accept responsibility for its role in this. If it wants to take concussions out of football, the NFLPA should agree to remove the players who are trying to cause them. For example, NFLPA can begin by refusing to defend Garrett after his savage attack on one of its members. NFLPA should let the league ban him.
Instead of fighting against the NFL for the steps they’ve taken toward limiting head injuries, the NFLPA should negotiate in good faith for the next CBA. The NFL has made concessions — it’s time the players’ union did so as well.
Football will never be completely safe. Injuries can happen at any time, and there’s nothing that can be done to stop that reality. There can be things done, however, to limit these injuries and one of the most effective would be to eliminate players who regularly disregard the rules.
What does it matter how scientifically advanced helmets are if players are just going to use them as weapons?
And when will the NFLPA recognize there’s nothing the league can do about that if they’re going to defend the players who perpetrate violent assaults? The NFL cannot protect the NFLPA’s members if the NFLPA doesn’t let it.
Fred Brown is a communications consultant with Dezenhall Resources, a corporate and crisis management firm based in Washington, D.C.
