NFLPA Continues To Reach Out To Retired Players

Over the years, this business has made me more cynical. Sometimes, I think I’m too cynical.
And then something happens to make me think I’m not cynical enough.
The NFL Players Association, after months of litigation with a 2,056-member class of retired players, has settled the case for more than $26 million in an increasingly obvious effort to get all former players on the side of the current players in advance of the looming labor war against the NFL.
“Mr. Adderley stands here as a representative in what I hope is a new step to reaffirm that we represent the players of the National Football League -- those who used to play, those who play,” NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said during a Friday news conference to announce the settlement. “From this day forward, one of the things we will be working on is to remove the word ‘retired’ from any group of people who play this game. We will be one team. We will have one locker room. We will speak with one voice.”
And that voice presumably will be “don’t take away the current players’ money.”
It’s a stark contrast from the leadership of former NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw, who consistently said that the union does not represent retired players.
“I know that we have some healing to do,” Smith said, reportedly rapping the podium for emphasis (hey, he’s a former trial lawyer . . . he knows how to engage in theatrics). “I know that there are some things from the past that need to be done better. From today, we will make that step. We will lead. We will move forward.”
Hopefully with the retired players doing whatever they can to help sway the public toward the plight of the current players.