Drew Brees was partially right, but off base on one point
You may have heard by now that a group of retired players have filed a lawsuit against the NFL, the named plaintiffs in the Tom Brady anti-trust lawsuit, and NFLPA director DeMaurice Smith. They are essentially claiming that the current regime in the NFL doesn’t care about retired players.
In the 64-page document, there is a quote from New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees that they used to show as an example of how these current guys don’t care about the retired guys.
“There’s some guys out there that have made bad business decisions,” Brees says. “They took their pensions early because they never went out and got a job. They’ve had a couple divorces and they’re making payments to this place and that place. And that’s why they don’t have money. And they’re coming to us to basically say, ‘Please make up for my bad judgment.’”
The retired players say that this shows “antipathy for NFL retirees.”
A good portion of what Brees says is absolutely true. There are a lot of guys that have made bad business decisions. And there are tons who have gone through divorces and are leaking money from everywhere. Combine that with the fact that guys in the past didn’t make as much money as the guys today, and well, it leads to being broke.
However, his comment about them taking their pensions early because they didn’t want to get a job? Completely off base.
I spoke to a couple retired players about this and they agreed that that’s not why a lot of guys took their pensions early. They did so because they were being fed the lie at the time that the average life span for players was around their mid 50′s. They took their pensions early because they were told that they weren’t going to live that long, so why not get the money now?
The truth is that many, many players lived well beyond that age and essentially got screwed for doing so.
And while Brees was off on that one fact, he makes great points otherwise, even if it’s not what the retirees want to hear. It’s not popular to verbalize, but the truth is, when you start making that kind of money, you have people tugging at you in all directions trying to get some of it. And there aren’t always voices of reason on the players’ shoulders helping them make sound financial decisions.
At the end of the day though, Brees was probably better off just keeping those thoughts to himself whether he was right or wrong. It’s not worth the hassle.
Micah, do you have any info about the NFL’s pension penalty structure for taking pensions early?
In many cases, taking the pensions early is the best financial decision even though you end up getting smaller monthly payments because you are able to collect more money during the course of your lifetime. This especially holds true for people with shorter life expectancies.
For example, when deciding whether to start collecting Social Security at age 62, 66, or 70, in 98% of cases where the retiree does not live beyond 80, collecting smaller monthly payments starting at age 62 will result in more overall collections throughout their life. In most cases, a retiree would have to live past age 86 in order to make waiting until age 70 to start collecting the best decision.
Depending on the NFL’s pension penalty structure, it may be the same for them – collecting early may actually benefit the majority of retired NFL players, especially considering that their average life expectancy is only 77-78 years.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I could probably find out more details for you. You are obviously much more intelligent on this matter than I. And I’m sure the rules have changed. The part I referenced was what was told to players in the 70′s and 80′s, so it could be very different now. But I can look into it; I have a friend who knows TONS about this stuff.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0