Grievance filed against Bucs on Tynes' behalf
The NFL Players Association filed a grievance Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers relating to kicker Lawrence Tynes, who was sidelined for the season after a MRSA infection in August.
DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFLPA, said the grievance addresses "significant concerns about the manner in which that player and perhaps other players' safety was handled by the team."\
Tynes was not placed on injured reserve, but rather the league's non-football injury list, but the Bucs are paying his salary for this season as if he were on injured reserve.
"We will look forward to working with the league to try to figure out what the facts are and most importantly take steps that they and every team are protecting our players," he said.
"This whole thing is wrong," Tynes said at the time of the team's decision. "My biggest emphasis is I don't want this to happen to any current or future player. I'm going to fight this thing as long as I have to, because this team should not be allowed to do this to players. If I drop a 45-pound plate on my foot while lifting weights in the weight room at the facility, it's IR. So I just don't understand how my situation is any different. I went to work, I kicked, I practiced, I cold-tubbed, I hot-tubbed, I showered for all those days there. I come up with MRSA and it's a non-football injury? They're basically trying to exonerate themselves of this, and I'm not going to allow it to happen."
