Relief, but Disappointment, for Plaintiffs in N.F.L. Case Years ago, the symptoms started. Forrest Gregg would drag his left foot when he walked. He would thrash and kick and scream in the night, a nightmare running in his head. He would comb his hair with his right hand while his left hand trembled. His wife, Barbara, denied it all at first, then took him to a doctor, who diagnosed Parkinson's disease and attributed it to Gregg's football career. Two years later, Gregg, a Hall of Fame offensive tackle, spends his days exercising, reading and resting. He is constantly exhausted. He sleeps 14 hours a day, Barbara said. He cannot sweep the driveway anymore. He cannot fly-fish the way he used to. His children call him every night to converse, to try to keep him sharp. This year, Gregg joined more than 4,500 other plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the N.F.L. over concussions. A $765 million settlement in the case was announced Thursday. When reached by phone Friday, Gregg spoke slowly and sounded tired. "I'm glad to see it happen," he said. It serves a lot of purpose, and the people who really need to be taken care of will be taken care of. He had been worried about his health and his family's future, he said, and the settlement eased that a bit. That seemed to echo the early public sentiment from many former players with degenerative diseases: their time may be short, and the settlement ensures some compensation without a long legal battle. But others, like Eleanor Perfetto, the widow of the former offensive lineman Ralph Wenzel, were more torn. She said she felt relieved that the suit was ending and that players like Gregg would be helped, but also disappointed that there would be no admission by the N.F.L. regarding a link between the players" concussions and their illnesses. Perfetto devoted much of her life to her husband, who was found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as C.T.E., and Alzheimer's disease. Wenzel deteriorated in the last decade of his life as he argued his case against the N.F.L. "We'll never know what they knew when," Perfetto said. There is satisfaction, though, in knowing that they did settle, and it's a sizable settlement, and that tells you there was considerable merit to the suit. Thomas Jones, one of the youngest plaintiffs at 35, feels similarly. He said he felt lucky that he had not had serious health problems. When he feels down, or has mood swings, or forgets the topic of a conversation, he fears it is because of the countless concussions he sustained during his career, he said. Jones said he had made arrangements to donate his brain to the Sports Legacy Institute, a Boston nonprofit organization, for research. He is also shopping around a documentary series he produced, "The N.F.L.: The Gift or the Curse?" One of the episodes in the series, which examines off-the-field issues, is about concussions and their effects. The settlement was fine, he said, but he was still disturbed. "You can't buy your brain back," Jones said. That's the problem. Everybody looks at the money - not the actual issue. There are family members dealing with these players that have problems walking, that don't even remember their names. As part of the settlement, retired players will not have to prove that they had concussions or that concussions led to their neurological problems. They will need to prove only that they have neurological issues. The Hall of Fame running back Floyd Little, who says he has memory problems, told The Post-Standard in Syracuse that it was insulting for players to have to prove their level of disability. You have to prove it? Little asked. What the heck is that? I have to go humble myself? How can you prove that you've suffered? Guys aren't going to do it. The settlement does little to change the science of evaluating and addressing concussions. In the proposed deal, the league agreed to spend $10 million on unspecified research, a pittance given the expense of doing large-scale, long-term studies that specialists say are needed to determine critical issues like who might be predisposed to developing neurological problems from head trauma. "This does not change anything from a medical perspective or how patients are treated or will be treated in the future," said Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, the director of Michigan NeuroSport at the University of Michigan and an associate professor of neurology. "This is largely a legal issue," added Kutcher, who directs the N.B.A."s concussion program. While $10 million is a nice sum, it is not going to make any significant difference. A big population study, Kutcher said, would probably cost about $8 million a year for 15 years. Perfetto, Wenzel's widow, who was formerly a senior director at Pfizer and recently became a professor in the school of pharmacy at the University of Maryland, said $10 million was a "pathetic number." Perfetto also took offense that the settlement had separate tiers for different disabilities: paying up to $3 million for those with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, up to $4 million for the estates or families of players who committed suicide and were found to have C.T.E., and up to $5 million for those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. "I'm not quite sure how they can differentiate these things from one another," she said, "or why they would ever put a different price tag on one versus another, indicating some different level of devastation. I can't imagine that. Perfetto, along with some retired players, also worried that there would not be enough money left for younger retirees, like Jones, once those with the most debilitating conditions were paid. Sol Weiss, a lead counsel on the Plaintiffs" Steering Committee, said that while the amount in the settlement was important, expediency was also critical. "I've got a lot of clients who are hurting and need the money, a lot of young players who don't have insurance now," he said. The resolution is a compromise, but all in all, the settlement is fair. Sheelagh McNeill contributed research. A summary with an earlier version of this article misstated the dollar amount of the settlement in a lawsuit against the N.F.L. over concussions. It was $765 million, not $765.