Darnell Docket airs NFL dirty laundry

[ElGatoGrande]

Players are well aware of the physical and mental risks that football brings to the table. If you're going to complain so much about it, then get out of the league and get a real job like the rest of us.

It's the way of the world. Wherever there is big money there are multitudes of people, some deserving and some not, who are making designs on acquiring that money. These days all it takes is a sympathetic media and you can shake down anybody,,,

 

[Fletch]

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/01/31/darnell-dockett-nfl-dirty-laundry/

Peter King put this up on his MMQB for Docket.


I have to say this, thats what i love about Jerry Jones. He takes care of his players. Ask Josh Brent, The Brown family, Sean Lee, and all the other injured players he paid instead of sending them out the door without their money. One of the most stand up owners in all of sports. He has never put the game above any players health. Love that about him. Think thats why you will never hear any player say anything bad about the guy. Even after they leave the NFL they still call him Mr Jones when theyre around him. Respect.

I've heard both sides Darnell. You know what you're getting into when you sign on that dotted line. Don't act like football is the only way you guys get paid. You guys like Lynch and yourself get paid off the field with various endorsement deals. We ain't fools.

If you take care of your money, you'll live comfortably. So stop playing the victim.

 

[Fletch]

Darnell wouldn't last a season had he played in the Butkus, Bob Lily era. Cry me a river Docket!

 

[big dog cowboy]

Thats twice screwing the pooch with players who signed with Az. Docket and Bertrand Berry. But thats was Parcells not wanting to sign anybody worth a damn so he could convince jerry the move to a 3-4 was the right thing to do. Dallas had the #1 defense when Parcells was brought in to coach. In 2004 He turned it into a Fat slow defense.

Dallas had the inside tracks on Antoine Winfield and Bertran Berry in 2004, but who did Parcells sign? Marcellus Wiley, Chad Eaton and Tyrone Williams. What a joke.

Wow you hit that one right out of the ball pack. Even if it was deflated a little.

 

[LatinMind]

I've heard both sides Darnell. You know what you're getting into when you sign on that dotted line. Don't act like football is the only way you guys get paid. You guys like Lynch and yourself get paid off the field with various endorsement deals. We ain't fools.

If you take care of your money, you'll live comfortably. So stop playing the victim.

If your boss decided to cut your wifes hourly wage for the yr after she gets pregnant and goes back to work. How would you feel. I understand the scale is much larger for athletes. But its the same thing. Theyre taking money from them. Nobody likes people taking their money. he talks about Retired players who have problems. And how the NFL doesnt care for them. Thats why theres the whole retired players lawsuit. Theres a bigger picture in this besides money.

 

[jobberone]

There are millions of people that would trade places with NFL players and take less money.

Maybe that's because they're not old enough to realize what football did to their bodies. When you're young you're invincible. And it can take awhile for the bell to toll. He's right but he hasn't gotten to where Moose is....or beyond.

 

[Hoofbite]

Guys are motivated to play hurt by the threat of unemployment and lost salary because of the collective bargaining terms forced on players by the owners.

Sorry, but this is just bogus.

The players weren't forced into doing anything. They took things further than anyone who's "forced" ever could have.

They had their chance, and what did they push for?

Fewer practice days, fewer offseason workouts, and less offseason contact.

I'm not even sure how he thinks it would work. Like there wouldn't be an accompanying drop in contract totals?

How many soon-to-be players with monster contracts would be on board with that?

 

[jobberone]

You don't play. You don't get paid. As it should be. Code of the warrior.

Guess you're no where near a knee replacement or that second neck surgery.

 

[LatinMind]

Sorry, but this is just bogus.

The players weren't forced into doing anything. They took things further than anyone who's "forced" ever could have.

They had their chance, and what did they push for?

Fewer practice days, fewer offseason workouts, and less offseason contact.

I'm not even sure how he thinks it would work. Like there wouldn't be an accompanying drop in contract totals?

How many soon-to-be players with monster contracts would be on board with that?

IDK bout all that. I remember alot of players on social media calling out DeMaurice Smith on trying to push his agenda with all that practice and contact stuff. Because they were trying to win that PR campaign on retired players and the affects of concussions

 

[AsthmaField]

I'd play right now for room and board. Not because I want to get hurt, but because I love the game just that much and the thread of injury has never kept me from playing it... even for free. I even loved the practices. Hell, I would literally go play in a parking lot right now if I could get the guys together.

If I could make a living playing football, I'd be so freakin' happy I wouldn't no what to do.

If I could make myself rich playing football, I definitely wouldn't be mad about anything.

 

[Hoofbite]

The thing about guaranteed contracts is that the players wouldn't end up getting anymore money as a collective. That is basically set in the CBA. So you would get a transfer of wealth from healthy players to injured players. I'm not saying that is good or bad, but that is the decision that would have to be made.

All that would happen is that salaries would go way down so the guys who can play would get a lot less. You'd also see the pay rate go way down on defense (esp. LB and DL) and RB due to the much higher rate of injury. I think you'd also see the contracts get a lot shorter so the "guaranteed money" may not end up being as different as the players may imagine.

I agree that it sucks on the player's end that their contracts force them to stay with an employer but the employer can choose to terminate the contract unilaterally but that is the nature of this sport. It is truly a sport for people with enormous strength, durability, high pain thresholds and resiliency. I know I couldn't play it and appreciate those who do and the damage they incur for our entertainment. Unlike many here I am a big believer in all the rule changes to decrease head injuries and protect players in defenseless positions because I've been on the other side of the table from the players.

Good post.

Contract terms would have to adjust.

I'd also add that older guys would likely be forced to go year-to-year. Nobody is fully guaranteeing a multi-year deal to a guy that just got cut because his play has fallen off and there's no telling what he has left.

Couldn't teams also just move in the direction towards more option years in contracts? Wouldn't that kind of just make everything the same as now with nothing on the backend guaranteed?

 

[unionjack8]

then go be a brick layer.

no, if dockett doesnt like his job he can go be one and see what real graft is.
this is why 70% of the population didnt support the players in the lockout.
**** dockett you whining little baby

 

[starfrombirth]

Im sure there are. Because they arent experiencing it. The arent experiencing the pain their body is in everyday of their life. Im sure when the average Joe get a taste of that their view would change.

So you're saying that people aren't in the workforce, everyday, going to work with bad knees, bad elbows, bad backs, migraines.... for a lot less money? This runs along the lines of another thread about taking a pay cut to keep your job. It happens every day in today's economy. And people are afraid to report injuries for fear of losing their jobs. I living breathing example of it and I know I'm far from the only one.

 

[starfrombirth]

Darnell Dockett contract:

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/2800/darnell-dockett

Richard Sherman contract:

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/6660/richard-sherman

Earl Thomas contract:

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/5703/earl-thomas

Those poor players! How will they ever pay their bills with those paltry millions guaranteed??? /sarcasm

 

[visionary]

Docket is a moron

There is plenty of guaranteed money in those contracts, he himself signed a contract with a boatload of guaranteed money

Secondly, Darnell, put your money where your mouth is. You and plenty of other NFL players make a TON of money. If you feel the NFL is not caring for your brethren then make a fund for NFL players and donate half or one third of your guaranteed portion to it. If all NFL players do this then all NFL players can be cared for. Easy enough to talk when you are talking about someone else's money

 

[NextGenBoys]

This thread shows you who the idiots are and aren't.

That's all I will say about that.

 

[Nightman]

Docket is a moron

There is plenty of guaranteed money in those contracts, he himself signed a contract with a boatload of guaranteed money

Secondly, Darnell, put your money where your mouth is. You and plenty of other NFL players make a TON of money. If you feel the NFL is not caring for your brethren then make a fund for NFL players and donate half or one third of your guaranteed portion to it. If all NFL players do this then all NFL players can be cared for. Easy enough to talk when you are talking about someone else's money

They never take care of the retired guys during the CBAs. It's always about maximizing today's dollars. That is why there is never talk about expanding the rosters. If they really cared about safety that would be one of the simplest ways, more guys means less hits per guy, more Special Teams specialists.

They had to make knee pads and hip guards mandatory and they are still tiny compared to old days. Go back and watch highlights from the Dallas SBs in the 90s. The shoulder pads were huge and guys wore neck rolls and arm pads. Now they want to play in pajama pants.

I do feel bad for the guys that can't walk or get out of bed and the guys being diagnosed with CTE is scary, but they are compensated for all that. The only other answer is ending the sport and no one wants that.

 

[jobberone]

If this was an easy problem it would be solved already. People in the workforce aren't getting CTE. Going to work with a bad knee is not the same as going to work and getting a bad knee. Voluntarily working in a business that creates those problems complicates the issues.

This is a very serious problem that puts the NFL in jeopardy as it does football at all levels. There is no need to mock people about differing points of view.

 

[jrumann59]

I hope he opens his own business with investments that have 100% ROI and then he can then maybe tell NFL owners how it should be. Players in the NFL are commodities as bad as that sounds that is the case if it weren't everyone would be making X based on the position they play regardless of performance and I will tell you he probably wouldn't like those numbers.

 

[locked&loaded]

There are many professions that take a physical toll on the body. Soldiers don't get paid millions but often have lifelong physical problems.

I've seen a single brick layer brick a 2500 sqft house in less than 2 weeks. That's about 12,000 pounds that passed though his hands. If he does that 25 times per year that's 300,000 pounds. Over a 30 years career that's 9 million pounds. Tell me that guy doesn't have some aches and pains.

Masons have it easy, try being a laborer