Boo Williams wakes up every morning not knowing how the pain will hit. They can be debilitating headaches that make it impossible to get out of bed. Sometimes the pain shoots through his neck. Despite all this, he is angry.
Williams, who played tight end for the New Orleans Saints from 2001 to 2005, needs surgeries, medications and doctors but is struggling to pay for it all.
The 44-year-old, who lives in Picayune, Mississippi, recently received $5,000 a month from the NFL’s disability benefits plan, but says the plan and league have repeatedly mishandled his claims and should have paid him $500,000 or more in the past pay. 14 years.
“I need all the help I can get because some days it feels like it’s all over,” he told The Associated Press. ‘Sometimes I can’t sleep. It makes everything harder when you’re fighting to get what you deserve and all you do is get frustrated.”
His story is similar to dozens of retired players in similar positions who spend their days sifting through a web of lawyers, paperwork and bureaucracy in a battle against the NFL and its NFL Player Disability & Neurocognitive Benefit Plan.
Ex-NFL player Boo Williams recently received $5,000 per month through the NFL’s disability plan
Williams poses for a photo outside his home in Picayune, Mississippi as he tells his story
Williams celebrates after scoring a touchdown for the New Orleans Saints in October 2001
Over the past thirty years, the league has added millions of dollars to the plan for retired players with injuries sustained in football or that occurred after their careers were over. The plan, approved as part of the collective bargaining agreements between the league and the players’ union, expects to pay out more than $330 million in benefits by 2023, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.
But plaintiffs’ attorneys point to a high number of denied claims and a system in which doctors assigned to examine players are paid by the NFL plan as evidence that the system is rigged against retirees.
Earlier this year, 10 players, including retired Pro Bowl player Willis McGahee, filed a lawsuit accusing the program of unfairly denying benefits to injured retirees.
“After years of putting their bodies on the line with the promise of help from the NFL if they need it, former players are facing an unfair and biased system for obtaining their rightful benefits,” said Sam Katz, an attorney representing players in the lawsuit.
Williams’ journey through the claims system began in 2009 when he sought benefits under the league’s “line of duty” disability policy for active and recently retired players who suffer football-related injuries.
All signs pointed to him receiving payments of about $2,400 per month after a plan-appointed orthopedic doctor evaluated Williams. Dr. George Canizares rated Williams’ “whole person impairment,” or WPI, – a measure of the severity of his injuries measured by American Medical Association standards – at 27%. At the time, the rules said that if a player had a rating of 25% or higher, he could receive benefits.
Williams smokes medical marijuana at his home and explains that he has trouble getting paid
He shows scans of his brain injury on his phone but says he cannot afford to treat it
Williams (with 82) has the ball knocked loose from his grasp by Seahawks’ Bobby Taylor
But three weeks after Canizares filed his report, he sent an addendum downgrading the severity of one of Williams’ injuries to his left shoulder, at the “suggestion” of NFL Disability Plan Director Dr. Stephen Haas.
Crossed out was the ’27’ in the spot labeled ‘Combined WPI% Impairment’. Next to it was ’24’ handwritten and circled.
It would take another fourteen years before Williams would receive approval for benefits.
“That led to a lot of my depression,” Williams said. ‘I couldn’t get help. I didn’t understand how someone who wasn’t in the office could tell the doctor to change the number like that.”
Neither Canizares nor Haas responded to messages for comment left by the AP.
NFL spokesman McCarthy said the “jointly developed and administered program between the NFL and the union, led by neutral medical personnel, provides fair benefits to deserving players and their families.”
Williams fist bumps a fan, Frank Lossett, left, who recognized the former New Orleans Saints player while having lunch at Two Sisters Creole Kitchen in Picayune, Miss., earlier this month
He has received about $45,000 after finally being approved this year after 15 years of trying
Williams received about $45,000 after finally being approved this year. This has allowed him to rent a house, but he still doesn’t have a car and says he can’t afford medical care for his neck injury.
NFL health insurance for retired players ends after five years, so Williams’ benefits stopped in 2012. After that, he struggled to pay for doctor visits and MRIs on his perpetually sore neck.
When Williams finally received approval for disability benefits from the NFL this year, it was based on what a neuropsychologist appointed by the program determined were psychiatric disabilities that left him completely and permanently disabled.
The approval was for the “Inactive B” level, which pays $5,000 per month to players who file for benefits after 15 years of retirement. It’s less than half of what he would have received if he was approved at “Inactive A,” for players before the age of 15.
Williams appealed, arguing for the increased benefit because the 2023 approval was based on identical medical information used for a December 2019 application that was filed and denied before the 15-year deadline.
The program denied that application in part because the plan-appointed orthopedic doctor who examined Williams ruled that he could participate in sedentary and desk work.
Williams has a visibly swollen neck from an old football injury but has struggled to get paid
The ex-Saints star smoked medical marijuana at his Picayune home last week
The denial letter alleged that Williams had missed appointments with doctors appointed by the program, which could result in denied applications. No mention was made of the 2009 exam included in the application, which replaced the crossed-out 27% assessment for Whole Person Disability with 24%.
Because program rules required him to wait a year and the COVID-19 pandemic subsequently caused further delays, Williams was unable to reapply until this year – after the 15-year period had expired.
But either way, Williams said, the league should have been well aware of his problems — and not just because of the medical records he submitted over many years.
“I called their suicide hotline when I had episodes. They don’t help you,” he said. ‘I’ve been telling them about my neck for decades. They have seen the fracture and tear in my shoulder for decades. They don’t care.’
This story contains a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 800-273-8255.