Eric Dickerson thinks Hall of Fame players deserve $300K salary from NFL for playing days (2024)

On Tuesday we learned about a group of Hall of Fame players who are considering a boycott of the induction ceremony in Canton in order to try and get money and health insurance from the NFL.

Several players -- notably Jerry Rice and Kurt Warner -- distanced themselves from the group's stance after the statement was released, and it was not entirely clear exactly what the group wanted.

Thanks to TMZ, which caught up with Eric Dickerson, we now know: $300,000 per year, per player. Dickerson, who is the Chairman of the newly-formed Hall of Fame Board, told TMZ every guy with a gold jacket should get about $300K per year.

"If it was up to me, I think every Hall of Famer would get about $300,000 a year," Dickerson said. "I think that would be a proper number."

That is ... a lot of money. There are 318 Hall of Fame players with the 2018 group added to the class, which means the quick math would get you north of $95,000,000 if the league was giving every guy in Canton a $300,000 salary every single year.

Not all Hall of Fame players are living, of course, but it is likely the estate of the ones who have died would be looking to reap the rewards. The widow of HOF defensive end Reggie White is on the Hall of Fame Board, indicating the group asking for the compensation and healthcare expect it to extend into a post-mortem phase.

Worth noting: $95 million does not, in so far as we can tell, include healthcare benefits. It also is a fairly small percentage of the NFL's profit (more than $14 billion in 2017).

Dickerson ended up getting into a tweet thing with Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith and pointed out that it's just "two quarters and two dimes" out of every $100 the NFL makes. He also said the goal is to get "health insurance and a better pension for all players."

There are plenty of people who are skeptical about how this is unfolding, including NFL Media's Jim Trotter.

Former kicker -- turned CBS Sports analyst -- Jay Feely pointed out he was on the committee to try and figure out healthcare, and it just wasn't feasible to get insurance for every single player.

Ex-player Nolan Harrison pointed out that the Legacy Fund established in the 2011 CBA -- which is routinely criticized for various and understandable reasons, but which did go a long way towards helping former NFL players -- has done a lot towards funding help for ex-NFL stars.

There have been plenty of other critics on the topic, as well, especially as it pertains to giving only a small group of elite players a big chunk of money.

Questions definitely linger about why it should only be Hall of Fame players who get heavily paid. The argument for this is the HOF guys helped to build up the NFL's brand and bolster the league's profits. But it would certainly change the dynamic of the HOF selection -- suddenly it's not just a gold jacket and someone's legacy at stake, but literally millions of dollars in the form of an annual salary. Terrell Owens being kept out because media members didn't like him would have cost him a big chunk of change.

So there's a lot to be sorted out before this thing can even start to move forward. Best of luck convincing the NFL to hand over $300,000 per player though.