Fallout from "Bounty Gate" - Affect on the NFLPA and former players

[DaBruinz]

One of the things that has come out from Bounty Gate is that bounty pools used to be a regular practice in the league, but that with the 1993 CBA (or one of the other iterations prior to 2000), that the league told teams to put a stop to this.

Well, that certainly can't be good the some 650+ lawsuits that are pending by former players against the league. If the league can prove that a particular player was participating in the pool, then it's likely that they will say that fellow players were at fault for the injuries and therefore the league shouldn't be liable.

Now, I am not saying that the league hasn't done some shady things when it's come to concussions. They have. And so have some head coaches. And the league certainly has taken steps to ensure that head injuries are taken more seriously than there were previously. And I have to honestly believe that is, in part, do to Gene Upshaw no longer being around. Upshaw was all about the current members and the former members could screw themselves. And I feel that the former players should hold the NFLPA partly responsible as well.

Nothing good is going to come from those lawsuits. Either for the players or for the league. And it will just build up animosity.