Former Saints tight end Boo Williams needs surgery, medicine and doctors to make the pain in his injured neck subside.
But he can't afford any of it. The 44-year-old was recently awarded $5,000 a month by the NFL's disability benefit plan.
But Williams tells The Associated Press the plan and the league have repeatedly mishandled his claims and should really have paid him $500,000 or more over the past 14 years.
His story is not unlike those of dozens of retired players in similar positions, who spend their days picking through a web of lawyers, paperwork and bureaucracy in a fight against the NFL and a disability plan they argue is unfair and broken.
