A string of emails that began in 2010 with the Atlanta Falcons head trainer and reached all the way to owner Arthur Blank showed a franchise worried about its ”excessive” reliance on painkillers to treat players and the potential embarrassment that could cause the team and the NFL. Nearly every recipient on the email chain – from Blank, president Rich McKay and general manager Thomas Dimitroff to then-head athletic trainer Marty Lauzon – is still with the team, which plays New England in the Super Bowl on Sunday. The emails were entered into the court record Thursday as part of a proposed class-action lawsuit by more than 1,800 former NFL players who claim they were encouraged by the medical and training staffs of NFL teams to abuse painkillers and continue playing without regard for their long-term health.
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