Former NFL kicker Lawrence Tynes has filed a lawsuit against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the MRSA outbreak the team dealt with two seasons ago.
According to The Tampa Bay Times, Tynes is seeking $20 million in expected future earnings. The suit alleges that former Bucs trainer Todd Toriscelli was the source of the MRSA infection and that it ultimately ended Tynes’ NFL career.
Tynes is one of three players who the team diagnosed as having contracted MRSA in 2013. He never appeared in a regular season game for the Bucs, as the team placed him on the nonfootball injury list. Tynes was paid his full $905,000 salary that year, but he claims the Bucs were negligent in allowing “unsanitary conditions” at their facility and that the team “actively concealed ongoing incidents of infection.”
In 2013, the Bucs revealed that Tynes, offensive lineman Carl Nicks, and cornerback Johnthan Banks had been infected with MRSA. However, the team claimed the cases were unrelated. The lawsuit alleges that Toriscelli “admitted to close friends” that he may have infected Tynes with MRSA after he used the same therapy devices and equipment as the 36-year-old.
“Mr. Tynes has won multiple Super Bowl championships and is widely regarded as one of the most accurate kickers in league history,” the kicker’s attorney, Stephen F. Rosenthal, said. “He had turned down a multi-million contract from the New York Giants when he agreed to join the Bucs as a free agent in July 2013. Now, as a result of Tampa Bay’s actions, he will never kick again.”
After contracting MRSA during the 2013 preseason and appearing in just two regular season games, Nicks sued the Bucs and agreed to a $3 million settlement with the team. Tynes could be seeking something similar.
If you remember, fans mocked the Bucs and former head coach Greg Schiano after the MRSA outbreak went public. It is now the staph infection that just won’t seem to go away.
Photo: Twitter/Lawrence Tynes
