For years, the NFL’s disability plan scored cognitive tests as if Black players started out with lower brain function. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Baltimore approved a settlement that bans the practice for good and orders old test results rescored.
U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin gave final approval to the deal after about two hours of argument, the Maryland Daily Record reported. The suit covers the neurocognitive tests the plan used to decide who qualified for disability benefits. Race-norming adjusted a player’s score by his race, which made it harder for Black and other nonwhite players to show enough impairment to be paid. Two Black former players sued in 2023.
Under the settlement, the plan’s operators must rescore tests given to nonwhite players since 2012 using race-neutral methods negotiated by the parties. Class counsel Beasley Allen has described the deal as a way to take a fresh look at past evaluations. The league’s separate $1 billion concussion settlement dropped race-norming in 2021, after a similar fight in a Philadelphia court. This case concerns a different pot of money: disability benefits.
Not everyone wanted the judge to sign. More than 100 retired players filed objections on Sept. 29, among them Michael Vick, Ricky Williams, Willis McGahee and Vaughn Booker. Their lawyer, Sam Katz, argued that the deal “requires hundreds of former players to give up every legal claim they have regarding their disability benefits in exchange for essentially nothing.” Because the class has no opt-out, he said, players cannot refuse.
The objectors say the release could cost them millions in benefits they might otherwise pursue. In his filing, Booker, a former defensive end, wrote: “It’s like the defendants and counsel think non-white players are stupid.”
The deal came after a federal court in January denied certification of a broader class, and the parties negotiated the narrower settlement in June. Rubin gave it preliminary approval June 2. Class counsel argues that rescoring is the relief the case was built to win. The objectors argue the price is too high.
Rescoring does not guarantee anyone a payment. It gives players whose results were adjusted by race a new score, and a new chance to qualify.
Have your say