The National Football League and its Players Association announced a joint agreement on Monday with the launch of a few new initiatives, resources and programs intended to create a safer league and better care for players on and off the field. These new wellness measures are primarily concerned with two categories: medication and mental health.
The use of pain medication has long been a problem for all athletes, certainly not just in the NFL, for not only the ability for players to easily skirt protocols for the sake of getting back on the field but also for the easy ability to fall into addictive habits with the medication.