Former NFL players suing football helmet maker Riddell have uncovered new evidence that the company and league knew more about the risks of concussions than has previously been disclosed, a lawyer on the case told The Post.
“There have been many new documents that have been found” since the players settled with the NFL in 2013, the players’ lead lawyer, Jason Luckasevic, said last week.
While the NFL settled its concussion suit, Riddell has not even come to the bargaining table, said Luckasevic, who is with Goldberg Persky & White.
The size of a potential verdict or settlement against Riddell could bankrupt the privately held company.
“We are going to put an end to that helmet maker,” Luckasevic said.
The Riddell suit — which some have called the players’ “other suit” — is being pressed by roughly 1,000 former players who claim the company knew about the risks of concussions but kept them secret.
The 20,000 players who accepted the $1 billion NFL settlement are free to continue pursuing Riddell.
The case is expected to move forward after the NFL settlement gets approved.
Former New York Giant Leonard Marshall is one of the Riddell plaintiffs — as are former Miami Dolphin Mark Duper and Dallas Cowboy Tony Dorsett.
Marshall, who says he has traumatic brain injury, wore Riddell helmets throughout his career. “I questioned the helmet when I saw teammates getting these inflatables,” he told The Post, citing former LSU linebacker Ricky Chatman.
Riddell was the NFL’s official helmet from 1989 through 2014.
“There’s no doubt I would have worn a much better helmet had I known,” he said.
Luckasevic said that when Riddell in 2006 claimed its Revolution helmet would reduce concussions by 31 percent compared to traditional helmets, the company’s assertion “was pretty wild” considering it never tested for the kind of rotational hits that cause most concussions.
There will be key helmet manufacturers that come forward and say they went to the NFL and proposed helmets that would be safer for players only to be told they should go show their models to official helmet maker Riddell, Luckasevic alleges.
Marshall, 54, says he gets treatment to deal with his headaches and mood swings.
“I go one to three times a week to a hyperbaric chamber. I go into a bubble and get pure oxygen into the brain,” he said.
“Parkinsons and long-term dementia scare the s–t out of me,” he said.
Marshall, a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl champ, feels the NFL may be exerting pressure to keep him out of the Hall of Fame because of his willingness to criticize the league.
The NFL does not select players for its Hall of Fame. The voting is done by the media.
“It also bothers me not being in the New York Giants Ring of Honor,” like Harry Carson, Carl Banks and Lawrence Taylor, Marshall said.
Riddell declined comment. The NFL said it has pushed helmet makers to develop state-of-the-art products.