Jahvid Best suing NFL; Concussions NFL's biggest problem?

[Akhilleus]

Former Detroit Lions running back Jahvid Best is suing the National Football League, helmet maker Riddell and Easton-Bell Sports over concussions, filing the lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in Wayne County Circuit Court.

Best, who was a first-round draft pick for Detroit in 2010, is now out of the NFL after suffering multiple concussions with the Lions before being released in July 2013.

So we have yet another player who is suing the NFL over concussions. Jahvid Best, an Ex-Lions RB. I know the guy mostly because I remember using him in Madden 2011, and plus I drafted him late in one my big money fantasy leagues a couple of years ago hoping he'd someday play again. From what I remember he had a lot of speed, and a lot of potential. Yet his brain at that point was basically mush, so I didn't think he'd have a chance to play again, and he didn't.

Now I read that he is filing charges against the league. Personally I'm disgusted at reading yet another former player is trying to milk some money out of the NFL with this concussion story. The concussions suck I understand that, and it's unfortunate that a lot of former players are dealing with that. Yet is it really the NFL's fault, or the helmets even? I mean let's now try to kid ourselves by saying the helmets in the NFL are worse than the helmets that they use in college, high school, or even peewee football. Yet I don't see former high school players suing their schools athletic department because a concussion.

They knew what they were doing when they signed up to play football. It is one of the reasons that they get paid the money they do. If Tom Brady wants to make 60 million dollars he has to risk getting a concussion. Same with Best, he knew damn well how tough of a sport football is. At 5ft 10, 199 LBs the guy had to know he was going to get roughed up especially playing running back. He's had a history of injuries, not just the many concussions that he had. Now with Best, I can find just a small amount of sympathy. When the older players were are filing charges against the league I said it was just because they blew away their money and wanted more, but to be fair this kid didn't really have a chance to get a big contract. None the less does that make the lawsuit justified? In my opinion, no.

Now Roger Goodell is going to make even more changes to water the league down. What they should do instead of making all these rule changes is have all new players sign some sort of waiver, if they don't do that already. A waiver that basically protects the league from lawsuits. If you don't want to get hurt then don't play football. It's just that simple.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

I'm getting really really tired of these players suing the NFL and Riddell. Yes, concussions are horrible and it's a major problem but it's not like Best played 20 or 30 years ago when nothing was really know about the impacts of football on the brain. He played like 3 years ago. He knew what he was getting into and actually has a history of concussions dating back to his college days. If he had a history of concussions from college, he should have known he was at a higher risk of another concussion or two in the NFL, which is exactly what happened.

Riddell spends BILLIONS of dollars every year improving their helmets. It's one thing if there was a "better" helmet or technology out there and Riddell was too cheap to build it but they're not. They're on the cutting edge of improving the helmets. Football is a violent game. Unless they eliminate hitting altogether, concussions are going to keep happening unfortunately. Suing the helmet maker is like a hockey player suing the company that makes pucks if a puck hits them and knocks their teeth out.

I think the older players have much more of a claim for damages against the league then the younger players like Best.

Before anyone comes in here and bashes me as a hater, I am a diehard Lions fans and really feel sorry for Jahvid Best as I believe he was going to be a great player. That said, it's not the league's fault Riddell's fault that Best got the concussions.

He is still a young man that is rich and can live a productive life.

 

[Slash-LN]

He is still a young man that is rich and can live a productive life.

This is actually explained in the suit.
He wants to set up a medical fund to help out later in life if the concussion symptoms worsen. They point out that in many cases the affects don't really show until 10 or even 20 years later.

That being said.

I don't agree with the lawsuit at all.

As mentioned he suffered I believe two concussions in college. The NFL Shouldn't be paying for that.

He knew the risk he was taking.
If a player got hit by a pitch in baseball and had to retire he wouldn't get away with suing Major League Baseball.

It sucks for the guy that he has had issues. It was something he opted to do though. No one forced him to play football.

I don't know the details but I would highly believe he was forced to play with concussion symptoms. Especially in the time frame that he played.

I don't get suing the helmet maker either. They are doing the best they can to make safer equipment. They have no fault in this at all.

The OP didn't mention this but he is also filing a workers compensation claim against the Lions in a separate suit.

 

[Akhilleus]

I wasn't aware that NFL players actually could file for workers compensation. I know they are taken care of, and usually taken care of well, but I didn't know that they could file for compensation. Are NFL players independent contractors? That's something I'm not sure about.

Anyway like I said earlier, and like both of you have said...the guy has a history of injuries not just concussions. He had concussions in colleges, along with many other injuries. He is also quite small, and that's one of the reasons why when he was first drafted I actually didn't like him as one of my top prospects. I remembering liking his speed, but I was leery because he reminded me a lot of Reggie Bush and other small running backs. I actually said the same thing about Giovanni Benard too, and we'll see how that turns out. Then again in today's league now the rules are changing to make it more and more less likely for an offensive player (specifically RBs and QBs) to suffer injuries. That is good, but it isn't good when they go to the point where you're changing the entire game. I swear soon they're going to be running out there with flags on.

Back to what I was saying about Best's size though, he isn't large. Those types of players are even more susceptible to injuries. Jahvid had to be aware of this when he entered the league.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

I don't know the details of the Worker's Comp claim but I remember that the Lions were overly cautious with Best. He was begging to come back in and play and they didn't let him and kept having doctor after doctor check on him. They followed every protocol. Also, they easily could have released him and he would not have received medical benefits but they honored his contract so he could keep the benefits until the contract expired. If he's really filing a worker's comp claim, then he's stabbing them in the back.

 

[Akhilleus]

I don't know the details of the Worker's Comp claim but I remember that the Lions were overly cautious with Best. He was begging to come back in and play and they didn't let him and kept having doctor after doctor check on him. They followed every protocol. Also, they easily could have released him and he would not have received medical benefits but they honored his contract so he could keep the benefits until the contract expired. If he's really filing a worker's comp claim, then he's stabbing them in the back.

See with those details I can't see how anyone would side with Best in this situation. That fact that he kept urging the Lions to let him play and they refused in the interest of his own safety is reason enough. Plus like you said all the medical benefits the Lions gave Best.

From as far as I can see Best was actually treated very fairly by the league and by his team, in fact maybe even fairer than most.