Hear that? That’s Roger Goodell cringing.
A trailer for Will Smith’s new movie, “Concussion,” was released Monday on MMQB.com’s website, and in just two minutes, it’s clear to see how Goodell’s NFL is portrayed as an industry behemoth that cares very little for its employees.
The movie is based on the true story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the researcher who found the degenerative brain condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The disease can lead to depression and memory loss, and has been tied to the deaths of numerous players, many by suicide.
Smith plays Omalu, on a crusade to prove to the NFL they’re putting players in harm’s way. The NFL authorities are portrayed as old white men in board rooms, wanting Omalu to deny his findings to keep their profiteering in full swing.
In real life, the NFL has reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by thousands of former players, agreeing to pay them a total of about $1 billion in damages. But the topic isn’t going away, and the way this movie looks — with the headliners such as Smith and Alec Baldwin — the attention on the subject is only going to get greater.