From an outsider’s point of view, life in National Football League appears to be all glitz and glamour. Publicity and notoriety, life-changing money, the opportunity to showcase one’s craft against the sport’s best competition in the world. The list goes on and on. And while some players can successfully adjust to life as regular civilians after they hang up the cleats, others are not so fortunate. Just ask former Green Bay Packers cornerback Mike McKenzie, who played in the league for 11 seasons and was a member of the Packers from 1999 to 2004.
McKenzie and nine other former NFL players are the lead plaintiffs in a proposed class action lawsuit filed in February of this year in a Baltimore federal court against NFL’s Disability Plan (referred to in the lawsuit as “the NFL Player Disability & Survivor Benefit Plan and NFL Player Disability & Neurocognitive Benefit Plan”) and Commissioner Roger Goodell, among other defendants.