In 2013, Randle El and
three other former players filed a lawsuit against the NFL in a Manhattan federal court alleging the NFL “has done everything in its power to hide the issues and mislead players concerning the risks associated with concussions,”
according to The Village Voice. In 2015, after that suit was consolidated with more than 2,000 others, he was one of more than 5,000 players that
received more than $900 million in settlement money from the NFL to resolve a concussion lawsuit.
Since retiring in 2010, Randle El helped to found the Virginia Academy, a Christian high school in Ashburn, where he serves as the school’s athletic director.
Originally, he was a proponent for the development of a football program at the school, but he has no remorse after it was cut two years in when it became too expensive.
“The kids are getting bigger and faster, so the concussions, the severe spinal cord injuries, are only going to get worse,” he said in the interview. “It’s a tough pill to swallow because I love the game of football.
But I tell parents, ‘You can have the right helmet, the perfect pads on, and still end up with a paraplegic kid.’
“There’s no correcting it. There’s no helmet that’s going to correct it. There’s no teaching that’s going to correct it.
It just comes down to it’s a physically violent game. Football players are in a car wreck every week.”