This morning, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith met with the DC Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan this Morning, and was asked about a variety of different topics. When asked whether Peyton Manning would retire or continue to play, Smith responded: “Man I don’t know. I got to see him briefly after the game, and I’m just happy for him. What a tremendous guy. Devoted so much to the game, and he’s such a class act.” Smith continued saying that he would be “surprised if he didn’t have some continuing connection with football,” whether that be as a coach, within team management or simply as a broadcaster.
Later, Smith was asked about the NFL concussion protocol, specifically falsely reported concussions, such as Johnny Manziel at the end of the league year or Robert Griffin’s preseason concussion, which led to Griffin losing his starting position. Smith responded saying “The only thing that we (the NFLPA) care about is that; a. If there is a medical issue for the player, we insist on that you handle the medical issue. For example with the Robert Griffin case, we made an official inquire, because it was suspect about what was actually going on. I never want a team doctor or a medical excuse to be used as a cover for something else because it erodes the confidence we have in the medical process.”
The Junkies continued, asking Smith about the recent report which claims concussions are up 58 percent, wondering if he was surprised about the increase in concussions. Smith rebutted:
“No. Internally, we were anticipating an increase in the number of concussions. If you change the culture where you want players to self report, if you change the processes where you want doctors to do a better job of identifying them, and if you change the procedures to be, frankly, over-inclusive, as far of the injuries that can occur, it’s reasonable to believe that your going to see a spike in the number. And so frankly, we weren’t that surprised about the increase, because we want people to be self-reporting. And I think that the culture has changed. You saw Ben Roethlisberger self-report. You hear in locker rooms all the time, that guys are more likely now to raise their hands and say ‘Hey look, I might have an issue to deal with.'”
Smith furthered this thought when asked if this culture change was a good or bad thing for the NFLPA , saying “I know it sounds crazy, but I think it’s a very good thing, because right now, the only thing we have now is an increase in the number of reported ones (concussions). The question over the next five years is to figure out statistically whether that came from more concussions or over reporting of concussions.”
With concussions being such a big issue in the NFL today, it is good to see the NFL and NFLPA feel they have changed the culture of the sport. Do you agree? Or not, either way, let us know what you think in the comments.
Listen to the rest of this interview, and more coverage from The Junkies here.
