Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier has become the latest in a string of professional athletes being targeted in violent shootings.  The 26 year-old was shot 14 times early in September while sitting in a car with a former teammate, Kenneth Pettway, waiting for two women outside an apartment complex in Jacksonville. 

After spending 3 weeks on a ventilator, and dealing with bouts of pneumonia, infections and renal failure he has been upgraded from critical to good condition.  This “good” condition comes with Collier’s paralysis from the waist down and the amputation of his left leg due to a bullet severing his spinal cord and blood clots forming in the leg and groin. 

The police have made no arrests in the case, but they believe the attack was targeted on Collier even though a motive has yet to be discovered.  He has no recollection of the attack, so garnering possible motives from him seems impossible.  His friend and former teammate was not injured further indicating that the gunmen hit their bulls eye. 

Now that the frequency of stories like these are coming out once every few months, I’ve decided that this should be dealt with as a trend that will only continue to get worse if professional athletes don’t pay attention.  The huge stories of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams’ shooting death in 2007 in front of a nightclub and the murder of Redskins safety Sean Taylor in his home highlight the recent fatalities among NFL players.  The murder attempts such as Collier’s case and Raiders wide receiver Javon Walker’s severe beating in June should also tell the rest of the league that they are not invincible and beyond the risk of attack. 

In the NFL’s tireless attempts to keep the league wholesome and pure with celebration guidelines and quarterback protection rules on the field, league officials should consider this string of attacks, random or not, as a problem they need to brainstorm on.  Maybe the players need to be encouraged to protect themselves with security when outside their homes; maybe many of them don’t understand the negative connotations that have become apparent with people in their position.  If the concern isn’t born from a human point of view for the NFL, then perhaps they will become concerned with their game being in jeopardy and the money that is in peril right along with it. 

The league’s players, who perform every Sunday to present their incredible product to millions of fans, are increasingly being attacked off of the field.  It’s an issue that can’t continue to be addressed after another Richard Collier loses his leg and right to a normal life, or another Sean Taylor is killed in his home simply because people know he’s got money and nice things.  We should see fewer stickers on helmets and patches on jerseys for fallen players in the prime of their lives, and more awareness and protection for those players before they’re nothing more than a sad story remembered on paraphernalia. 

 

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