NFL wants more 'humane' way to handle player cuts

[JimLeavy59]

The draft provides football fans with a peek into the exhilaration that comes with entering the NFL. Far less publicized is a player's exit from the game, which carries its own emotional weight.


Speaking at the Annual Spring Meeting on Tuesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell explained he's been meeting with league officials on ways to better service players when their careers are over.


"We look at our players from a total wellness standpoint," said Goodell, who discussed the topic earlier Tuesday with NFL senior vice president Troy Vincent. "It's not just a physical wellness, it's a mental wellness. And what can we do to try and make sure that we're helping our players make the transitions through life and to make sure they're getting the kind of help they need at any point."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000205220/article/nfl-wants-more-humane-way-to-handle-player-cuts?campaign=Twitter_atl

Goodell is a fucking joke.

[Houston]

Was wondering why your thread title and article didn't make sense, then I realized you only posted half of it

"And today one of the focuses was the cutdown process as an example. How do we make the process more dignified? It is in some cases the last experience a player has with a team or any team in the NFL. So we have to do better job of doing that in a humane way and a way that will make sure they understand the respect we have for them and the pride we have in what they accomplished.

"Make sure they understand what they'll be experiencing as they separate from an NFL team and make sure they have the services that are available to them, which we provide and we think can be incredibly valuable to them."

If you've ever watched HBO's "Hard Knocks," you know the process of cutting players gives that series some of its most heart-wrenching moments. It's a traumatic moment for any player, and exploring ways to help them through that process makes sense.

[NAHSTE]

[Houston]

[krulmichael]

Bet Titus Young's situation added even more fuel to this fire.

[ram29jackson]

...make the scholarships they never used "in class", retroactive

[Goober]

...make the scholarships they never used "in class", retroactive

I think most of these guys would be lost in college without the hand holding that comes with being a NCAA athlete.

[jms493]

Send em a text and an email with their flight information.

[dave]

I'm trying to figure out a way to word this reasonably.

I absolutely agree pro athletes are overpaid by OUR standards ... but a job is a job. As a person in a perilous industry, I wait every day for that announcement that I don't have a job. It sucks. I love my job, but also understand that I am in an industry that is perilous.

Pro athletes are in the same situation. Job today, gone tomorrow. No mercy.

To simply laugh at this fate, IMO, is sad.

[NAHSTE]

To simply laugh at this fate, IMO, is sad.

I was laughing at the disingenuous lip service being paid by Rodge and the Shield. They give no fucks about treating players humanely.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I was laughing at the disingenuous lip service being paid by Rodge and the Shield. They give no fucks about treating players humanely.

I'm pretty sure the players would keep the old school "see me in my office" disingenuous pep talk firing in place if it meant they didn't have to play these ridiculous Thursday night games on three days rest.

Talk about inhumane. Start with that.

[NAHSTE]

I'm pretty sure the players would keep the old school "see me in my office" disingenuous pep talk firing in place if it meant they didn't have to play these ridiculous Thursday night games on three days rest.

Talk about inhumane. Start with that.

Or refusing to pay pensions to retired players, cover healthcare costs, un-guaranteed contracts (which is why they are so easy to cut in the first palce of course) or the fact that the league swept head trauma under the rug for decades with phony doctors on the payroll pushing junk science.

Yeah, we could start at all those places. But I guess asking the turk to be a big more gentle to the training camp roster fodder when requesting the playbooks back is as a good place to start as any of those.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Somebody is probably suing them for mental duress for being released or something. That's probably what spurred this.

[Aso]

How would they make these cuts more humane exactly?

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

We already dress them up in pink for a month why not hold there hand and give them ice cream cones on the way out of camp.
Oprah Goodell at it again.

My understanding was many teams offer counseling and job placement assistance for cut players already. Why the urgency?