Former players sue NFL over ‘unscrupulous’ disability benefits plan

NEW YORK — Ten retired NFL players have filed a federal lawsuit against the league over its “unscrupulous” disability benefits program.

According to the suit by the former players — filed Thursday in Baltimore against the league’s benefits plan, its board of trustees and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell — the league used “unscrupulous tactics” to deny disability claims and limit payments to players.

The NFL also engaged in “an overly aggressive and disturbing pattern of erroneous and arbitrary benefits denials, bad faith contract misinterpretations and other unscrupulous tactics,” the suit alleges. The tactics were said to include shepherding players to doctors who had financial incentives to not find them disabled.

Among the plaintiffs are running back Willis McGahee, a two-time Pro Bowler with a long injury history, and former New York Jets safety Eric Smith, who suffered more than a dozen concussions.

“Once we stop playing, we’re all used up,” McGahee said. “We deserve to be taken care of.”

“We are not just going to sit back and just let it all fall down on us and take the beating,” he added.

Jason Alford, Daniel Loper, Michael McKenzie, Jamize Olawale, Alex Parsons, Charles Sims, Joey Thomas and Lance Zeno are the other plaintiffs.

“The NFL likes to pretend like they care about player safety, but it’s only when something big-time happens in a game they are like ‘oh yeah, we’ll fix this’,” Smith said during a press conference.

“But once it’s past and all the media has given up on that, they don’t care anymore.”

The lawsuit came just ahead of the Super Bowl and a month after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during a regular season game against the Cincinnati Bengals. After being revived on the field, Hamlin was hospitalized for several days and ultimately released, but may not play football ever again.

The NFL’s system is “extraordinary” and designed not to be exploited, Goodell said at a Wednesday press conference.

“You don’t want people to benefit from it that don’t qualify for it because it takes away from people who do qualify for it,” he said.

The suit is seeking class action status in order to include thousands of other former players.