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Sean Taylor, And The NFL
It’s happened again. Another young life has been taken. Last week Sean Taylor, aged 24, beloved teammate and popular defensive player for the National Football League’s Washington Redskins–by the way we really think the name should be changed to something more PC, say the Washington Native Americans, but we digress–succumbed to a fatal wound received during what appears to be a botched robbery of his Florida home.
From everyone we’ve heard speak of Taylor he was a dedicated man. He had decided to make some changes for the better in his life. What we have ascertained is the life he was leading before he determined to make a change, was not necessarily the extreme life of really bad choices. It seems they were just the choices made by a troubled young man. He reformed himself and became a more loving and spiritual man. He had much for which to live. He will be missed by college teammates as well as his professional co-workers, family and friends.
The NFL commissioner Roger Goodell when speaking at funeral services for Taylor said, ” Taylor loved football and the NFL loved him back.” These are magnifying words from the head NFL representative, especially when spoken at the going home celebration of one so young.
But we have to wonder if the NFL feels the same way about all of its players both past and current? The older players need to know their future is secure as they, if they are fortunate, grow older. Many is the player who provided great excitement on the field throughout a five or ten year career, who at the age when life should just be starting for them, is unable to enjoy his life because of injuries and the residual pain associated with those injuries. The life expectancy of a professional football player in the NFL is 55 years. By coincidence that is also the age when they become eligible to receive the pension they’ve worked so hard to receive.
The young players, the new breed, the hip-hop, wanna-be thug players, need guidance from front office management that is reasonable in its decisions. They, too, need to know they have a secure future for their families and themselves. They play for even higher stakes. The average NFL player earns about 1.4 million annually. There are, of course, players who earn considerably less and those who earn significantly more. The average salary paid today is 100 times more than the what players could average forty years ago.
Players past and present need adequate representation. We think it’s time for a change in the National Football League Players Association leadership. Some of the leaders of the NFLPA are making a lot of money, and they just happen to be the guys who are the peers/contemporaries of the men who are waiting to receive their pensions at age 55.
For more information about the NFL and the NFLPA and its pension structure grievances by the players visit Gridiron Greats
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