Injury Settlements In The NFL
August 7, 2009
It's three days before a rookie free agent's first preseason game in the NFL. The rookie player (a cornerback) is ready to make a big impression in this his first chance to show he deserves roster consideration. He is ready for the game. However, today during seven on seven drills he must continue to impress his secondary coach, the defensive coordinator, and the general manager.
On the last rep he gets, he goes up with a wide receiver for a pass and comes down funny on his knee. His knee buckles and he is down. The trainer attends to him and he does not need the cart to go off the field. He limps off the field on his own power. But he is through for the day.
The team trainer decides to give him an x-ray, but will skip the expense and time off getting him an MRI. The trainer tells the rookie cornerback that the x-ray doesn't show anything, that it's probably just a sprain, and that he should stay off of it for a week to ten days. The trainer immediately tells the general manager.
The general manager immediately realizes that the rookie cornerback won't be available for the first preseason game and probably won't be ready for the second one which is just five days after the initial preseason game. Now the team has a problem. The general manager, does not want his four veteran cornerbacks out on the field that long, early in the preseason. The rookie free-agent won't be available to take the reps. What will the general manager do?
The general manager immediately tells one of his assistants to call the rookie's agent and tell him what is going on. The player's agent gets a call that goes something like this - Hey, Mr. Agent, this is Team A's assistant general manager and your client just got hurt, it is nothing severe. But he will be out for two weeks. We can't afford to keep him on the roster, we need space to bring in another cornerback. So we have to get him out of here. The team is willing to give him an injury settlement of three weeks of preseason pay. You have two days to accept this, or we will waive him injured.
In Monday's blog, it's the agents turn to respond.
One casualty of the court-ordered restructuring of GM is Buick's longtime sponsorship of the PGA Tour. Link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-buickfuture&prov=ap&type=lgns
Ponder this. "I recognize that there is a difference between the legal standard in my criminal case and the standard to which NFL players are held,"- Donte Stallworth. Link:
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9898758
It's three days before a rookie free agent's first preseason game in the NFL. The rookie player (a cornerback) is ready to make a big impression in this his first chance to show he deserves roster consideration. He is ready for the game. However, today during seven on seven drills he must continue to impress his secondary coach, the defensive coordinator, and the general manager.
On the last rep he gets, he goes up with a wide receiver for a pass and comes down funny on his knee. His knee buckles and he is down. The trainer attends to him and he does not need the cart to go off the field. He limps off the field on his own power. But he is through for the day.
The team trainer decides to give him an x-ray, but will skip the expense and time off getting him an MRI. The trainer tells the rookie cornerback that the x-ray doesn't show anything, that it's probably just a sprain, and that he should stay off of it for a week to ten days. The trainer immediately tells the general manager.
The general manager immediately realizes that the rookie cornerback won't be available for the first preseason game and probably won't be ready for the second one which is just five days after the initial preseason game. Now the team has a problem. The general manager, does not want his four veteran cornerbacks out on the field that long, early in the preseason. The rookie free-agent won't be available to take the reps. What will the general manager do?
The general manager immediately tells one of his assistants to call the rookie's agent and tell him what is going on. The player's agent gets a call that goes something like this - Hey, Mr. Agent, this is Team A's assistant general manager and your client just got hurt, it is nothing severe. But he will be out for two weeks. We can't afford to keep him on the roster, we need space to bring in another cornerback. So we have to get him out of here. The team is willing to give him an injury settlement of three weeks of preseason pay. You have two days to accept this, or we will waive him injured.
In Monday's blog, it's the agents turn to respond.
One casualty of the court-ordered restructuring of GM is Buick's longtime sponsorship of the PGA Tour. Link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-buickfuture&prov=ap&type=lgns
Ponder this. "I recognize that there is a difference between the legal standard in my criminal case and the standard to which NFL players are held,"- Donte Stallworth. Link:
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9898758
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