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Broncos LB Aaron Patrick files lawsuit against NFL, ESPN, Rams, Chargers, others after ACL tear

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Broncos linebacker Aaron Patrick has filed a lawsuit against the NFL, the Rams, the Chargers, SoFi Stadium, ESPN and other entities, alleging negligence that created a “dangerous” sideline condition that contributed to Patrick tearing his ACL in an Oct. 17 games against the Chargers. Here’s what you should know:

  • The suit, filed in Superior Court of California and obtained by The Athleticseeks unspecified damages and alleges multiple parties contributed to Patrick’s injury.
  • The injury ended Patrick’s season and limited his earnings for the 2022 season due to his “split” contract that reduces his salary when he is unable to take the field.
  • The ACL tear occurred in overtime of Denver’s 19-16 loss to the Chargers as he attempted to make a tackle on a punt return.

The Athletic‘s instant analysis:

Backstory

Patrick’s momentum during the play carried him onto the sideline, and the suit alleges that as Patrick attempted to avoid contact with the NFL’s TV liaison (commonly referred to as “The Green Hat”), his foot rolled up on one of the mats that was covering up the cords and cables that lead to the league’s replay monitor.

In addition to lost wages, the lawsuit says Patrick is seeking relief from “pain and suffering and emotional distress.”

In 2018, a judge in Missouri ruled that the Rams, then based in St. Louis, had to pay former NFL running back Reggie Bush $12.45 million after he filed a lawsuit against the team and the stadium company following a 2015 incident in which he slipped on the concrete barrier surrounding the field and suffered a torn meniscus that ended his season.

The Patrick suit also challenges the league’s collective bargaining agreement, alleging, in part, “that it provides no basis for recovery for injuries suffered by players through non-contact.”

What they’re saying

In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Patrick’s attorney William M. Berman said, “Player safety should be the foremost of importance to the NFL and its owners.”

“The NFL is a multi-billion-dollar sports enterprise and business, and it needs to do everything possible to protect its players from non-contact game injuries. As for Patrick’s injuries, Sofia Stadium was built at a $5,000,000,000 expense; the stadium should have the state-of-the-art equipment to protect for player safety, and not use the type of $100 mats that you would expect to see in a restaurant kitchen.”

What do other players think?

The Patrick lawsuit comes amid recent player outcries about the danger of artificial turf. Prominent voices like that of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers have advocated for transferring all the league’s surfaces to grass fields.

“I do think it’s time to go all grass throughout the league,” Rodgers told reporters last week. “I think you would see less of these non-contact injuries that we see on some of the surfaces, and I think that it’d be a good step in the right direction towards player safety to make the requirement for every field to be grass .”

Dozens of players across the league took to social media over the past weekend, calling for bans on artificial playing surfaces and especially the prohibition of slit-film turf, as used by the New York Giants, New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts, and Cincinnati Bengals.

The players all used the hashtag, “saferfields” to illustrate a unified message.

Required reading

(Photo: Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)

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