As is the goal of any business or business organization, the goal of the National Football League (“NFL”) is to keep profit high at all times.  This means weighing a variety of factors including, but not limited to, entertaining their fan-base, simultaneously protecting their organizations, and protecting the star players of the league. There is a lot the NFL has to juggle with and any good organization will be able to point out with accuracy what their priorities will be.  From our perspective at Miletti Law, the NFL PLAYERS will always be the highest of all priorities!

Stated by NFL Operations: “The league continues to make advances, on and off the field, in an effort to protect its players by championing new developments in engineering, bio-mechanics, advanced sensors, and material science that mitigate forces and better prevent against injuries in sports; supporting independent research to advance progress in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of head injuries; and sharing these teachings across all levels of football — and to other sports and society at large.”

The key word here is that “to protect the players”. Please make note that this is what the NFL clearly states they want to do.

Also stated by the NFL Operations via Player Engagement Page, “We are committed to setting up players and their families for success starting from the day they enter the league, to long after their playing days are over, whether a player wants to go back to school, start a new business, or learn about financial planning, the NFL family and Player Engagement are here to support,” says Troy Vincent, NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations. Also take note that a stated objective is that the NFL wants to set up their players financially for years to come.

Contrary to the previous statements of NFL Operations, and evidenced by recent developments, it would appear that the directive of “setting up players financially for years to come” is more smoke and mirrors than anything else. Many top NFL stars like Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and countless others are all in awe after realizing that pursuant to the NFL collective bargaining agreement, as well as the rules of the various organizations of the NFL, the NFL is not contractually obligated to pay a player if they are injured in a voluntary off-site workout.

Ja’Wuan James, a star right tackle for the NFL’s Denver Broncos, was just placed on the non-football injury list due to James injuring himself in a voluntary workout away from the Denver Broncos facilities. James tore his Achilles tendon and probably will not play this season and with that, according to the NFL and their collective bargaining agreement (CBA), the Broncos DO NOT have to pay James.  Certainly, these terms should be renegotiated at best.

The primary position of the NFL’s argument to not pay James is the fact that he was not injured on any NFL property, but rather a property unrelated to the NFL, which just so happened to be a voluntary workout to get prepared for the upcoming season . Therefore, the NFL is punishing Broncos tackle James for trying to get prepared for the upcoming NFL. In retrospect, the NFL is essentially stating that players cannot workout outside of NFL properties to get ready for the upcoming season, and if they do then their contract is voidable? How does that make sense? One of the most physically grueling sports in the world punishes their players for getting injured at a non-NFL property. This is the NFL that promotes player financial planning and who are committed to their players success on and off the field. Looks like the NFL is pretty hypocritical. THE NFL BETTER FIX THIS!

In other news around the NFL, star wide receiver D.K Metcalf of the Seattle Seahawks just ran a 100 meter dash to try and qualify for the Olympics; he did not qualify. But the reason we are bringing this up, is that this is promoted all over the NFL homepage and across all over sports media platforms. All platforms and the NFL are recognizing and almost promoting Metcalf for running the 100-meter dash.

But what happened to punishing Ja’wuan James for a voluntary workout at a non- NFL property? D.K Metcalf just voluntarily participated in a non-NFL property workout, no he did not get injured, but in the case of Ja’Wuan James, both players participated voluntarily in a non-NFL property workout. And the point of the NFL to take money away from James and not pay him for the season is that he was not at an NFL site. So why does the NFL promote D.K Metcalf? Personally, this just makes the NFL look even more hypocritical in their alleged mission of advancing their players financially and for the betterment of themselves. Wake up NFL!

The fact is that if you are going from high school to college, or from college to the major leagues, Miletti Law can help you strike the best deal available. With our experts on hand, with countless ambassadors, show reps, athlete contracts and general contracts and, you can rest assured that you will not find yourselves like the contracts at issue, here in this letter.

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