Dave Duerson’s Replacement on NFL Disability Board: New Deal Isn’t Finalized, So Hold Your Fire

A war of words has erupted on the comments board under an item at the blog of Dave Pear, a leading dissident National Football League retired player. See “Dave Duerson’s Replacement,” http://davepear.com/blog/2011/08/dave-duersons-replacement/.

The replacement is Sam McCullum, former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver. McCullum said earlier this week that, “time permitting,” he would announce details by Friday (today) of “a number of open issues” relating to pensions and disability benefits under the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association.

On Wednesday, McCullum posted comments under the Pear post, which was critical of the union and himself. McCullum said in part, “We have make [sic] progress because of efforts by a lot of folks, but the exact details are still being worked out as negotiations are still ongoing. Please wait until the final documents are drafted before you write it off as a failure.”

Ex-NFLPA official Dave Meggyesy (who also has commented on my blog) also dismissed the Pear group’s “misinformation and conspiracy thinking.”

And prominent players’ disability attorney John Hogan and others proceeded to rebut Meggyesy and McCullum.

The internecine battles among players and ex-players are their own.  But the existence of this rift, and the facts behind it, are revealing. If the NFLPA could not forge fundamental consensus with its core constituency, then we in the public have additional reason to question whether the league’s partner in NFL Player Care has been an honest broker of information about brain injuries for amateur athletes, as well.

Speaking of the late Dave Duerson himself, I understand that there is finally a hard-hitting independent story about his role, by a news outlet other than Concussion Inc., being readied for publication shortly.

Irv Muchnick