Nick Buoniconti says he has memory loss, feels NFL is 'waiting for former players to die'

Dolphins Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti has opened up about his life after football, and it isn't glamorous.

Buoniconti, who was on the historic 1972 Miami team that finished a perfect 17-0, said he suffers from memory loss and that he struggles to perform basic tasks, Sports Illustrated reported.

The 76-year-old said the NFL has not taken care of its former players when it comes to traumatic brain injuries and that the league is just "waiting for former players to die."

"We're the players who have built the game, but have been forgotten," Buoniconti told Sports Illustrated in an article published Tuesday. "The [concussion] settlement is a joke; the way it is structured is a joke. They are waiting for us to die. They're going to play the clock until everybody dies."

Buoniconti detailed how he estimated he took 520,000 hits to the head and that MRI tests over the past two years have revealed brain shrinkage and other brain abnormalities.

“I feel lost,” he said. “I feel like a child.”

It's a far cry from the former life of the Dolphins co-captain, a sturdy linebacker who led Miami to three Super Bowls in a row. He was an eight-time Pro Bowler, a two-time Super Bowl champion and capped off his successful NFL career with a stint in broadcasting and business.

But his world changed when his son, Marc, dislocated his neck playing college football at The Citadel in 1985. He was paralyzed from the neck down, and Buoniconti felt that God was punishing him.

However, he became a pillar for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, helping raise millions of dollars for the cause. At that time he was feeling great. But over the past two years he has felt the effects of constantly being hit in the head.

"I didn't have any idea the price would be this debilitating," Buoniconti said. "Had I known, would I have played? I had no alternative; there was no other way for me to get a college education.

"Football kept rewarding me — I can't deny that. But I'm paying the price. Everybody pays the piper."