NFLPA: Player Injures Rise During 2010 Season
One of the hot button issues for the NFL Players Union during the negotiations with the NFL will be keeping the current regular season format.
The NFL owners want to extend the season to 18 games, but players don't want to open themselves up in increased injury risk.
The NFL players union says the average number of injuries rose during the 2010 season.
In a report released Friday called "Dangers of the Game of Football," the NFLPA says injuries increased from 3.2 to 3.7 per week per team and the share of players injured increased to 63 percent compared to a 2002-09 average of 59 percent.
The report also shows that 13 percent of all injuries required being placed on injured reserve this season, compared to an average of 10 percent for 2002-09. The union says that indicates the injuries which are occurring are more serious than in past years.
The analysis is based on data from Weeks 1 through 16 from Football Outsiders, which compiles information from the publicly available weekly injury reports. The NFL also compiles such data, but has not released those figures yet.
"We know that injuries are part of the game, but the more data and information we can gather on player health and safety, the more likely we are to make the game safer," said Dr. Thom Mayer, the NFLPA's medical director. "Player contracts are not guaranteed, even as injury rates rise, which means careers face sudden ends each time the ball is snapped."
According to the union, under the current collective bargaining agreement that expires March 4, players are not fully protected from being released after sustaining a significant injury. Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita, who went on injured reserve late in the 2010 season with a knee injury, said the danger of the game needs to be considered during negotiations for a new CBA.
"An NFL football field isn't a typical workplace, and we know we are facing significant risk when we play this game," Fujita said. "We're talking about more than 350 players going on injured reserve during the course of the regular season, which is more than any year in the previous decade."
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