Proposed Louisiana Law Could Hurt New Orleans Saints Free Agency Chances

A proposed law about workers' compensation for pro athletes in the state of Louisiana could hurt the New Orleans Saints free agency chances. When it comes to free agency, players look at the whole package including workers' comp for if they were to get injured. 

I'm gonna say this right from the start. There is a lot of information in the main article, so I'm going to give you what Kevin Mawae had to say about the situation. He puts it in layman's terms pretty well. Mawae is a Baton Rouge resident, former LSU center and eight-time All-Pro NFL standout who served as president of the National Football League Players Association from 2008-2012. I will link to the main article afterward if you'd like to go in and read the feedback from lawmakers as well to get the whole picture.

Basically what they are trying to pass is workers' comp benefits for pro athletes in Louisiana would be calculated by a weekly earnings for the week they were injured, rather than an average of weekly earnings for the entire year.

This means that players generally earn significantly less during the off season, and preseason. So the timing of an injury becomes a huge factor in the workers' comp.

From nola.com:

Get hurt at training camp, Mawae said, and the difference could be between benefits based on earnings of $900 a week and earnings based on $8,700 a week, to use an example of a minimum wage player who makes $450,000 a year. Earn more under contract, and the gap widens. "If I'm a player coming to look at all of the benefits (of signing) ... that's a chance I don't want to take."

This is where it hurts the Saints free agency. Because players coming to look at the whole picture, including the living standards, schools for their families, and more, will also take into consideration if they were to get hurt, would they be taken care of.

This was Mawae's main concern.

What do you think about the situation?