Bird dog - I know you're passionate and what not, but the consequences of making decisions based on emotion are much worse than you can imagine.
Lets say Willie Roaf makes a knee injury claim 5 years from now and its denied because he never reported the injury while playing for the Chiefs. Lets say his claim is denied for whatever reason.
Sounds like crap right? I mean, his knee was probably injured while playing in the NFL.
Well - That's the type of story you think of when you make your argument; however, that story is not an accurate depiction of reality.
Reality is a huge chunk of the lawsuits and injury claims reported to the NFL are for players that never actually played football for a team longer than training camp/preseason.
Like, lets say Mike Hass is cut by every football team in the NFL and tries to play in Canada a few years. He hurts his knee there and is forced to retire. Well, he struggles finding a job and has a bum knee, whats a good option ? oh yeah, sue the Saints.
He played for them - he has a knee injury - why can't he say it started while playing for the Saints? He does, he sues, he may or may not win.
That's the reality of the suits that come through, the ones that arn't feel good stories or make bleeding hearts bleed for more rights. Guys that don't really deserve benefits. (Mike Hass was just an example by the way)
The problem, is while you're right, the retired veteran's story sounds like a story I'd want to endorse for help, but by creating a loophole, well, lawyers eat up that loophole and take advantage of it for all the retired rookies that get cut. Nothing is as simple as it seems and the laws governing this stuff are not regulated to football - its all workers and all jobs.
The only real option would be for the NFL to self insure with an agreement from the Players association to contribute to the system - like a tax - to provide coverage for players post 5 year retirement or something to that effect.