How Many Other Players’ Applications Did Dave Duerson Reject on the NFL Disability Claims Committee?

I’ve reported that the NFL Player Care panel reviewing claims under the “88 Plan,” covering medical costs associated with dementia, has rejected 11 of the 170 applications received since the plan’s inception in 2007.

What we don’t yet know is how many other disability claims were turned down while the late Dave Duerson served as one of the six joint management-union trustees on that committee.

Last week NFL communications head Brian McCarthy gave me the 88 Plan stats. When I asked for the other Duerson data, McCarthy said he didn’t know Duerson’s precise tenure (I believe it started around 2006), and suggested I contact the NFL Players Association, which appointed him.

But the union’s spokesman, Carl Francis, has not responded to emails sent either before or after my exchange with McCarthy.

Remember why this matters: Duerson, in hindsight, was not competent and the disability claims deliberations in which he participated were tainted. Many of the negative claims decisions were spectacularly controversial. All must be reconsidered.

Irv Muchnick