Funding for the study will come from the players' portion of league revenues, currently being negotiated between the NFL and the Players Association. The exact figure to be allocated for the study is still to be determined, according to Atallah, and most likely will not be finalized until after the Super Bowl.

The absence of a finalized plan has not stopped the NFLPA from imagining what a successful study could mean, not just for NFL players, but for athletes in other sports.

"If this $100 million of research would have caused a groundbreaking discovery in one critical area of a player's life or health, then we would have succeeded," said Atallah. "Whether it's an ACL issue or a mental health issue or a concussion issue, if we find one solution to any of those things we're studying, it would have been a success."