Gene Upshaw Hasn't Visited Kevin Everett

Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett is lying in a hospital bed he hasn't been able to get out of since suffering a serious neck injury 10 days ago in the Bills' season opener. The head of his union, Gene Upshaw, has never visited.

Upshaw was on Capitol Hill yesterday getting grilled about what the union is doing for retired players. But is the union doing enough for active players?

Mark Kriegel of Fox Sports writes that Upshaw's failure to visit Everett is part of a larger problem within the union, and that the union is ignorant about the ways to treat players with spinal cord injuries.

There's also reason to think that Everett's eventual recovery - it is believed he may walk again - has to do with an experimental treatment championed by the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. The treatment, which involves the timely injection of a saline solution to cool damaged nerve tissue, was featured prominently in stories on this site, on ESPN's SportsCenter and in USA Today. But apparently it's still news to the NFL Players Association, whose spokesman, Carl Francis, seemed unfamiliar with the treatment or the organization when contacted Monday afternoon.

"What exactly is the Miami Project?" he asked.

It would be nice if Upshaw -- whose salary of more than $6 million means the average NFL player personally pays him about $2,500 a year -- would visit Everett. But it would be better if the union would educate itself about spinal cord injuries and take an active role in advocating for policies that would lessen the risks of players being paralyzed on the field. If union officials don't even know about the Miami Project (which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti), they've got a long way to go.