The NFL’s smelling salts stance does not pass the smell test.
The NFL banned teams from providing smelling salts and ammonia packets, citing a warning from a Food and Drug Administration memo listing side effects of using unapproved ammonia inhalants (AIs) such as “seizures, migraines, vomiting, diarrhea and fainting.”
This represented a positive step. Then, the league took the cowardly way out. It outlawed teams from distributing AIs, but the NFLPA clarified that players can still use them if they provide their own supply.
What the heck? Will the sideline have its own version of the smoking section?
“Is it bad or is it not?” Super Bowl 50 champion Tyler Polumbus and Altitude radio host told The Post. “If you have the data, show it. To let the league and teams wipe their hands clean and still allow players to use it is hypocritical.”
Current and former players should be skeptical. The FDA claimed that AIs “have the potential to mask certain neurologic signs and symptoms, including potential signs of concussion.”
In 2015, the NFL paid $765 million to settle a lawsuit brought by more than 4,500 players alleging that the league dismissed dangers of CTE, a brain disease linked to football. But many of the payouts designed to help players have been challenged, according to The Washington Post, as the league has used medical loopholes to avoid covering costs.
So, while some NFL players, like George Kittle, have celebrated the ability to continue using AIs to jolt their senses as an essential part of their gameday routine, it is shortsighted.
The league has shown it cannot be trusted. It is not doing a favor as much as enabling behavior that benefits teams and creates exposure for players regarding future head injuries.
Players use AIs for a boost or to enhance focus. Instead, they should stop using AIs so they are more alert to what the league is doing to them.
“I feel for the poor rookie that is going to be wearing a fanny pack on the sideline with all of the packets for the players,” Polumbus said. “So, you have guys going to Amazon to get it because the league won’t provide it? Tell me how that makes sense.”
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