The NFL has its plate full trying to keep current players satisfied, but add on the will of former players, and the league just can't get it all done. Now, Ex-Packer Gary Knafelc says the NFL doesn't care about its aging former players, and he didn't mince words making the claim.
Knafelc, now 81 years old, spoke with NBC 26 in Green Bay about the subject, saying, "We don't have a voice, and I really believe the reason that we don't have a voice is that they're hoping that if we keep dying off at the rate we are, we'll be all dead and they won't have to worry about anything. I'm not kidding at all," he added. "I'm very serious about that."
"The NFL Players Association has to step up and protect us, and they don't do that," he continued. "All they care about is the current players and the guys that played after 1970. The ones that played prior to that, they've kind of just forgotten entirely."
The NFL is in a bit of a quandary when it comes to former players, especially those players that retired before the NFLPA secured better benefits for its players.
The one thing that Knafelc does completely understand is the NFLPA is far more interested in current players than former ones. Part of that is simple economics. Union officials aren't paid with Knafelc's money. Their salaries, at least those that aren't actually players such as DeMaurice Smith, are paid through the salaries of current players.
