Back in Week 6, Broncos linebacker Aaron Patrick suffered a torn ACL during a Monday Night Football Game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
The injury occurred after Patrick tried to avoid colliding with an individual on the sidelines. Patrick has now filed a lawsuit against ESPN, the NFL and the Los Angeles Chargers for the injuries he sustained.
In the lawsuit, Patrick alleges negligence by the entities for the placement of mats covering cords and cables that. Patrick claims his foot rolled on one of the mats as he tried not to slam into the NFL’s “green hat” TV guy. Patrick believes SoFi Stadium and the NFL should have made sure the field was safe and that the NFL, ESPN and the Chargers allowed an unsafe condition to exists.
Due to the way his contract is structured, Patrick lost half of his salary for the season. He has a “split” contract, which deducts pay from him if he’s placed in injured reserve. He also allegedly lost out on the opportunity to earn player performance bonuses and non-covered medical expenses.
The amount Patrick is suing for is unspecified.
Patrick’s attorney, William Berman released this statement:
“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, SoFi 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.”
Patrick was an undrafted player out of Eastern Kentucky. He was a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars before signing with the Denver Broncos in 2021. He has tallied 11 total tackles in his career.
