JOHN DICKERSON (HOST): I want to ask you about the Affordable Care Act. The president has said he is going to repeal and replace it. What's the players union concern about that? 

DEMAURICE SMITH: Well our concern, John, is a pretty simple one. We have a 100 percent injury rate in the National Football League. And so every player leaves the National Football League with a pre-existing condition, so one of the things that we would be concerned about is literally hundreds of players would be going into retirement with a tougher and perhaps, in some cases, an impossibility to get insurance because every one of them has a pre-existing condition. 

DICKERSON: And what's your feeling about the way things are going forward and what might happen to those with pre-existing conditions? 

SMITH: Well, I think like every American, you hear on the front end that there is a plan. I think that it's our duty because he is the president of the United States to find out what that plan is. Hopefully, that's a plan that won't bar people who have pre-existing conditions. But right now, as we are heading into Super Bowl week, I can tell you that last year we had about 4,900 reportable injuries in the National Football League, and we have about 1,800 players who play. 

DICKERSON: Let me ask you about one of those injuries: concussions. The president, when he was on the campaign trail, made a joke about concussions in the NFL, saying the rules are now quote, unquote, “soft.” How do you deal with that, that there is this perception out there among some, or at least among the president, that the rules have gotten too soft? 

SMITH: Well, I don't know exactly when you say who that perception is coming from, obviously my hope is that the president enjoys football, and if he wants to find out just how soft the game is, he can come down to the sideline and watch a game, and hear the collisions, and watch our players, and certainly he could swing by any team on a Monday and see how our players feel. I think more importantly than us sparring over words over whether the game has gotten too soft or not is, let's just embrace the fact that it's Super Bowl Sunday. It's a game that everybody loves. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our players want to play, but I also know that at the end of the day, every one of our players on every one of our teams is going to suffer an injury. And some of those injuries are going to be concussions, some of those are going to lead to long-term consequences. And it seems to me that for an industry that generates about $13 billion a year, our job should be trying to keep our players as safe as possible and certainly creating a world where they can afford insurance after they leave the game. 

DICKERSON: And briefly in about 30 seconds, what's your view on athletes, football players speaking out about politics? Should they? Should they use their voice, should they stay quiet? 

SMITH: Of course they should speak out. I have yet to find a football player that gives up his first amendment right the moment that he puts on a jersey. If it's something that a player wants to talk about, I think that's fantastic. If it is something that a player doesn't want to talk about, I think that's fantastic. What I expect from our men is that they are men, businessmen in the business of football, that they love their community and that they're blessed to live in this country. 

Previously:

Fox Ignores Ravens' History To Attack Team's Health Care Push

Limbaugh: Use Of Concussion-Preventing Technology In NFL Proves “Everything In Our Culture Is Being Chickified”

Rush: “The Concussion Thing In The NFL Is Political” ... “There's No Science” Behind It