Nfl Player Safety Essay

The average amount of NFL players who get injured are 3.7 per week, and all this makes player safety in question. Why, why are players getting injured. This highly controversial topic has people questioning the player safety and how is it helping the players of today's gone. When it comes to player safety we wonder if it has helped or worsened the league, many people can't make that judgement because they can't tell if what the NFL has done towards player safety. The NFL needs to do more to protect it's from any injury because their career could be in jeopardy.
My research is about player safety in the NFL and how it can be more beneficial for the NFL and its players. The NFL has a current issue that needs to be discussed between the association which is player safety. Player safety in the game of football has been an ongoing controversy for quite some time now ,but has the NFL done enough to protect its players? Well the NFL has proclaimed that they have tried to limit player injuries but some say it's gone too far that it is taking away from football. Many athletes have had their careers ended early because of preventable injuries, such as former 49er linebacker Chris borland who retired early because of fear of the after effect of head trauma. The most common

injuries in the NFL are ACL and MCL tears, pulled hamstrings, muscle contusions, and concussions(NFL.com) but one thing that these types of injuries have in common besides that they are common is that they are some what preventable from any impact given from an opposing player. Tv ratings from NFL games have dropped but not definitely because they viewers are not as entertained as they would without all the player safety, but since player safety is something that the NFL is currently attempting to fix however that is the biggest cause of viewers being bored while watching games. The NFL has been criticized for a while now because they don't do much to help solve the player safety issue but some also criticize them because they do too much instead.
The Pro side advocates that player safety in the NFL needs to help prevent concussions because players are getting head related diseases such as CTE. Concussion a hollywood movie was released in 2015, Dave Zirin a political sports writer claims, “Concussion is the NFL’s worst nightmare” (Zirin 1) and says this because it seems like the NFL has been targeted and it will need to defend itself after what this movie has revealed about them and the player safety. Since a movie was made about concussions in the NFL, why didn't the NFL say something to stop its show because this movie shows a lot about the NFL and how bad player safety is? I believe that the movie concussion shows what needed to be shown because many players won't speak up if they are hurt because they don't want to seem or look weak to their teammates. In all the movie concussion is something that NFL will need to battle so it can show that it does actually tries to protect their players.
The pro side believes that The NFL should add more than one judge to decide if a player looks hurt and needs medical attention. Before the 2015 season the NFL added a new trainer that will choose if a player looks injured and pull him out of the game and Jeff Miller claims, “if there is a player in distress and is lining up for a next play the trainer can call the side judge to get that player of the field”(Miller). Jeff Miller says that the new rule will help prevent injured players from being in the game. I believe that this new addition to the game will really benefit the NFL and the athletes because players won't have to risk getting more hurt than they would be. The NFL is making the first step into improving player safety and resolving the issue.
James Harrison a Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker, in 2008 was fined $100,000 dollars for a hit on the Cleveland Browns wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi on October 17th. Eventually Harrison would attain $100,000 dollars worth of fines disregarding the fine from the hit on Mohamed. Thus “ they faced a crisis inside their own locker room, They had made themselves great by playing up to the line that separates tough from dirty play, Now that line was being moved”(Layden 1). Basically Layden is saying that what are these fines for if injuries from big hits are still accuring. These fines are out of hand because teams have to strategically build a lineup for the sake of players who get fined a bunch of times. Also if the player's actions have to penalized because they want to prove something to the opponent, why can't refs be taught to attempt to prevent incidents from accuring?
The NFL held a meeting with all 32 teams showing a 4 minute film on violent and vicious that are dangerous for the safety of the offensive player. Many players recalled hearing boos and some players were throwing stuff at the screen. “It's probably inaccurate to say all the players heard the entire presentation, Many of them were too busy catcalling the video-and the message” (King 1).If the players didn't care about what the NFL said, what can we expect from players on the field? I feel once the NFL started presentations the defensive players didn't pay attention because they knew everything was going to be about the tacking other players and they didn't want to listen to what the NFL was saying.
The con side advocates that the “head of the crown rule” is an unnecessary rule because it can take away from the athlete's performance. In 2013 the NFL introduced the crown of the helmet rule to help prevent any head related injuries but not everyone was on board with this new rule just as hall of fame running back Marshall Faulk. Faulk calls this new rule “it's crazy and it's stupid”(Faulk 1) because he believes that this rule is talking away a player's ability to protect themselves. We all know that the NFL doesn't make the best decisions but this new crown of the helmet rule in my case is the best thing that can start the change towards improving player safety. The NFL believes this rule will help protect athletes heads from contact but this is a very controversial rule.
The con side believes that the game of football has gotten boring and all the player safety stuff is making the sport lame. Many people may say that they lost interest in the sport and Donald Trump gave his opinions about the NFL, “The NFL has become soft just like our country has become soft”. Donald Trump makes his claim with a tone of disappointment because the sport he loved and watched has gotten weak. Trump uses examples as in “Lawrence Taylor”and “Dick Butkus”, to back his thoughts up and claims that “If that was done by Dickbukus, it would have been said that he is the greatest player”(Trump 1). Trump is talking about tackles and how flags are always being thrown by refs, “so their wives can see them at home”(Trump 1). Trump is expressing what he thinks what the game has come down to and how boring it has gotten and that he doesn't watch it as much because it's boring. My opinion of all this is that people like Mr.Trump don't know what it's like to play in the NFL and have to be hit by other players. In all Donald trump shares what his thoughts were about the NFL and claims controversial things.
Many people may criticize the NFL for made new rules for player safety but they will also say that those new rules are ineffective, here Jeffri Chadiha expresses his thoughts“the NFL hasn't created some recent rules that have been good for player safety”(Chadiha 1).

Why Chadiha believes this is because he hasn't seen any positive results from the many attempts of the NFL. I think that in some way Chadiha is correct because it almost seems that the NFL and specifically the commissioner Roger Goodell haven't found a good excuse to give. Chadiha expresses his thought in a non regretful way because he is putting it all out there and it seems that he did not care of whatever others think on player

safety.
People may say that the game of football has gotten boring because of the NFL’s attempts to help the protection of players but it is taking away from the game. Gregg Rosenthal a writer for NFL.com belives that the NFL is doing too much, “I think it's part of the game, I don't think you can legislate all contact and forcible head hits out of this game, as players and former players, we accept that. I'm not a fan of these rules, and while we all love safety, at some point football has to be football”(Rosenthal 1). Rosenthal expresses his thoughts and while many others will agree with him, he makes a valid point for his argument.
The NFL has things to fix but I believe that the NFL needs to improve player safety because players are getting hurt from big hits. The NFL hasn't done much in my eyes to help player safety and we all see the after effect when it goes public when a player gets injured and we can tell if it was preventable. I think that the NFL should do more than just fine players for delivering brutal hits to their opponents and suspending them as well because I think all that is just a big waste of time. The committee concluded that there were 0.41 reported concussions per NFL game between the 1996 and 2001 seasons. This makes me think that why so many because there is at least 10 games a week and that means players are getting many concussions. A possible solution could be adding more rules towards player safety but since the others will say that it's taking away from the game so they can also add in something new to help balance things out such as competitions during a game.
I acknowledge where they come from but they don't understand how it feels to be a player and we don't know how it feels to be a fed up fan but we can allow that to decide what our opinions are about player safety. There can be benefits for players if the NFL added some things to help improve player safety and help prevent any injuries. Millions of people in the U.S watch football and helping the sport can get more people to watch and play football. I think that they will understand and appreciate the sport more since player safety is something that players shouldn't have to worry because it should already be there. It would feel great if the NFL could do more to solve the issue of player safety but fans and players should be grateful that the NFL is aware and is trying to help player safety.
People in america care about the NFL because it's something people love to watch and everyone has an opinion about the game. When it comes to player safety people look at is as something that has helped the league or worsen the league. The NFL has had to do many things to improve the safety of their athletes but have they done enough or have they done too much? Although how boring the game of football has become may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today's concern of the safety of players while playing the game of football. What matters about player safety is the fact of the harm to human bodies are always on the line when they go out and play pro football. The NFL needs to do more to protect it's from any injury because their career could be in jeopardy.