If former players are disabled because of NFL injuries, that’s one thing. But these former players signed their contracts and must have thought it was a pretty good deal at the time. No, they don’t make what players make today, but that doesn’t mean someone is shafting them. The job simply pays more today than it did 50 years ago. That’s not the current players’ fault.

Did you see Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant start bitching that somebody owes them when Tom Hanks and Will Smith started getting $20 million a movie? No. Because they were paid for the job they did at a rate that was reasonable at the time they did it.

The guys that played back then worked in the offseason to make a living. These are the guys that made the NFL and made it possible for Brees to enjoy his 7 mil a year. Huff still does radio work so im sure he isnt hurting for money but when you have these idiots in the league now pissing away millions and wanting more shouldnt someone say something? The NFL offered to put more money to retired players and Brees and that polititian they hired got up and walked out.

And please you fantasy football morons that know nothing about the NFL stick to commenting on TMZ stories.

Really???

REALLY????

well, of course they do. is your primary concern not you and yours?

and by looking out for themselves and their future pensions, they are doing what former players SHOULD have been doing years ago.

just sayin

…He said the same thing you said. “There’s some guys out there that have made bad business decisions.” He didn’t ever make it seem like all of them did it.

“Active players care more for their bank, and any future pensions THEY may get, than what those who played before them received.”

And retired players only ever cared about money THEY would receive, whether it was during or after their career. And there’s nothing wrong with that. How many of us care or look after those who retired before us?

SOME, emphasis on some, retired players are in financial trouble due to poor business decisions. That is not the fault of the nflpa* (they don’t deserve caps as they are a faux organization) or its members.

However, there are also plenty of retired players who are suffering from injuries sustained during their playing days, or are in financial trouble as a result of not making millions playing in the NFL.

Brees should watch his tongue and be less general as he is a very vocal member of the current nflpa*. Don’t be a smug arse, you’ll be in Huff’s shoes soon enough.

Huff comes off a little whiney about the money, but is essentially correct. Active players care more for their bank, and any future pensions THEY may get, than what those who played before them received.

Like the current contract issue, both sides need to grow up.

I mean, these guys were rolling hard… Especially when the average player salary probably a whopping $20,000 (With a minimum closer to $9,000) when Sam Huff was playing.

Drew Brees probably makes that much coming out of the tunnel during player introductions every week. So clearly, these players blew their millions on bad business decis… Oh wait.

Huff may be upset if he feels the organization that he helped built doesn’t support alumni. For example, the NFLPA* had cut a deal with Electronic Arts to use the likenesses of NFL alumni in EA videogames, then didn’t pay alumni the $23 million they were owed. The NFLPA* made restitution, new management was brought in, but the current regime retained one of the main architects of the EA scam against NFL alumni wishes, and perhaps as retribution not only ceased programs that generated revenue for alumni, but have also refused to co-fund the pension program. (Today, the owners fund 100% of the pension plan to the tune of some $63 million a year, and that number is only going to go up as more players become eligible.)

Meanwhile, there are published accounts of NFLPA* execs trying to claim that the NFL owners pay nothing to retired player pensions and benefits, perhaps as an excuse for their own inaction.

So here’s an idea: why doesn’t the NFLPA* state what they’re going to do about NFL alumni, particularly the ones that retired before 1993. I’m sure there are a lot of alumni (other than, say, Carl Eller, Priest Holmes, Obafemi Ayanbadejo, and Ryan Collins) who would like to hear that as well.

You tell’em Sam, these players of today forget who paved the way for them to make what they make today…what these guys get today in bonus money is more than a majority of the retired players from 50′s, 60′s and 70′s and 80′s made their entire careers.

Thing is the players back then loved the team, the city and the fans and after the season had to have other employment to make ends meet.

I’m with you Sam 100%

*******************

Good point. I think the fact that players in Huff’s day had to work in the offseason also made them more conscientious about their reputations, and as a consequence, the players of that generation were more composed, considerate, and responsible.

Lockout economics notwithstanding, what do the majority of today’s players care what their communities think of them? It’s not like they have to work within their communities in the offseason or anything. Want to know the real root cause of the Dez Bryant’s of the sporting world? Follow the money.

I’m going to guess that the players spend 100 times more in bling and hookers than they do on helping retired players.

There’s no way the NFLPA could credibly deny this Open Book request as they want to tell the NFL Owners how they should be spending their profits…

It works both ways boys!

People can’t expect to be taken care of by their employer for the rest of their life, for a job that they did for a few years while they were in their 20′s. Players who are smart with their money have a nice head start in life when their football “career” ends at the age of 25 or 30. Guys who aren’t, soon figure out that life doesn’t end when you stop playing football , but jobs that pay hundreds of thousands of dollars are hard to find.

Athletes need to look at their income as a temporary windfall, that in most cases is not sustainable. If they use good judgement, most can live comfortably, own a house without mortgage, and generally be a huge step up on the average guy just out of school.