It depends on when the player played
Originally posted by TruBluJAG
Wish Brother Jones the best in his future endeavors.
Question, the article stated the he played four seasons in the NFL, how may years do you have to play before you become vested/eligible for you NFL Pension?
Hopefully, he has enough years vested to receive something.
Retired players get major pension increase
(May 21, 2002) -- NFL players who played prior to 1977 recently began receiving significantly increased pension checks as a result of the latest extension of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement between NFL owners and players.
The NFL and the NFL Players Association included in the extended CBA a $110 million increase in pension payments to 1,400 pre-1977 players. The program, hailed by pension-rights advocates as without precedent in American industry, raises the minimum pension credit to $200 per month for each season played. The increase doubles the pension of the oldest NFL retirees.
"Nobody has reached back and given a pension raise to retired workers of anything approaching this magnitude," said Karen Friedman, policy strategies director at the Pension Rights Center, a Washington, DC group that campaigns for improved retirement benefits.
With the new program, pension checks for the oldest retirees (approximately 800 players who played before 1959) have risen from $100 to $200 per month for each season played.
For those players active between 1959-76 (about 1,410 retirees), pensions improved to $200 from $100-$185 per month for each season played.
To qualify for a pension, the league's oldest retirees originally needed to have played a minimum of five seasons to be eligible. In 1998, that minimum was reduced to four seasons, thereby adding to the number of the league's oldest retirees. Also in 1998, the minimum for players who played after 1992 was reduced to only three seasons. All NFL retirees receive full retirement benefits at age 55.
"This is an important accomplishment, and the credit goes to our club owners and the players," said NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. "They wanted to do more than pay lip service to the contributions of our oldest retired players who helped build the league."
NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw seconded the Commissioner's endorsement of the pension increases.
"We could have taken the money and spent it somewhere else," said Upshaw. "But we decided to spend it where it would have the greatest impact. We are the only industry that goes back and improves the pensions of retired participants."
The most recent pension improvement is part of a series of enhancements made by the NFL to the benefits received by retired players. Those improvements have included:
* March, 1987. "Pre-59ers" receive pension.
* May, 1993. 40 percent pension increase (Pre-59ers, 33 1/3 percent).
* March-April, 1998. 10 percent pension increase (Pre-59ers, 25 percent).
Retired players and their families have written numerous letters of appreciation about the pension increases.
"I appreciate the increases that the current players and owners have made to our pension plan, knowing the law and realizing that there are very few organizations that do anything for retired employees once they are gone," said former Miami Dolphin Dick Anderson (1968-77).
Raymond Berry (Baltimore, 1955-67) wrote about the impact of the increase. "This is a tremendous thing," said Berry. "As a player of that era, it is more than a pension increase - it is also an act that says, 'You are remembered and your contribution to today's game is acknowledged.'"
Monte Lee, who played in the NFL from 1961-65 for St. Louis, Detroit and Baltimore, was shocked when he looked at his bank statement. "I thought an angel had visited my bank account," he said. "With the surprise of a retroactive direct deposit, I was overjoyed."
Widows of NFL retirees also benefit from the increases.
"Charley loved his NFL playing days and his football friends," said Virginia Toogood, widow of Charley, who played from 1951-57 for Los Angeles and the Chicago Cardinals. "He would be grateful for the continued support of his family."
More than $200 million has been spent between 1993-2000 in additional benefits for those out of football. Disability benefits have increased four times since 1993.
The NFL pension plan pays former players nearly $40 million annually.
The extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and its players signed this past January is the fourth of the original 1993 deal. It ensures labor peace through at least the 2007 NFL season.
