In March, about 400 former players on total and permanent disability learned that they would have their payments significantly cut starting next year. Some former players, referring to the difficulty of collecting on the health benefits won in labor negotiations over the years, have adopted the phrase, “delay, deny and hope you die” to characterize the league’s approach to approving benefits applications. has a choice to make: Live up to its word and treat Black players like their lives matter, or continue pushing them aside,” he said. Smith said using two scoring curves, one for Black athletes and one for white, violates federal law and unfairly hurts Black players.

They come at a particularly awkward time for the N.F.L., which has battled the perception that it has dismissed the concerns of Black players, who make up about 70 percent of the league’s active players. The allegations of systematic discrimination are the latest and perhaps most damning criticism of the settlement, which has been stung by delays, predatory lenders, accusations of fraud and a lack of transparency since players began filing claims four years ago.

“Although the neurocognitive tests behind each door are the same, the raw scores for Black and white former players are interpreted differently when they are converted” to scores that are used to determine whether a player is eligible for a payment. “In effect, the settlement, as it has been administered, has a white door and a Black door,” said Cyril Smith, a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder and the lead counsel for two players who are Black, Najeh Davenport, a former running back, and Kevin Henry, a longtime defensive end.

They also asked that the scores on Black players’ neurocognitive exams be recalculated using “race-neutral” scales that would put them on an even footing with white players. In two legal actions filed Tuesday in United States District Court in Philadelphia, the players asked that the judge stop the league from insisting that race-based benchmarks be used to evaluate players’ claims. of “explicitly and deliberately” discriminating against hundreds if not thousands of Black players who filed dementia-related claims in the landmark concussion settlement reached in 2013, making it harder for them to qualify for payouts worth as much as $3 million. Two retired players have accused the N.F.L.