Former NFL Players Will Be Able To Retain Disability Benefits

The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) struck a deal with the league on Thursday that will ensure that former players can retain their disability benefits, the two institutions confirmed in a joint statement.

Under this agreement, former players who have been deemed permanently disabled by the Social Security Administration will be able to keep benefits provided by the federal government along with benefits provided by the league.

Most former players who are permanently disabled receive $11,500 a month under the league’s benefits plan, according to The New York Times. Those who qualify for Social Security benefits can receive an additional $3,200 a month from the government.

“Our Executive Committee understands the importance and legacy of our union’s support of former players in need, and we are proud that we fought for a solution to preserve this benefit for former players who need it the most,” NFLPA said in a statement on Thursday.

The deal revisits part of a previous collective bargaining agreement that was reached by the NFLPA and the league. In 2020, the league and players association agreed to reduce the disability benefit payments that former players receive from the NFL by the amount they receive from the Social Security Administration.

This agreement would have impacted about 400 former players by cutting $3,000 a month from their payments.

In July 2020, two former players who received these benefits sued the NFL, the players association and their medical board that was jointly controlled by the two institutions for agreeing to reduce disability payments. The union also received criticism online for agreeing to reducing disability benefits.

The union unanimously voted later that year to amend the part of the agreement surrounding cuts to NFL disability benefits. The reduction was supposed to take effect at the start of 2021, but was put on pause until January 2024.

Preserving disability benefits for former players became a priority for the newly elected executive director of the union, Lloyd Howell, who negotiated Thursday’s agreement.

“The N.F.L. was responsive to the N.F.L.P.A.’s proposal and has agreed to make the necessary change to prevent those specific former players from having a reduction in this benefit,” the league and union said in a joint statement.