K Tynes to file grievance against Bucs over injury status
Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Lawrence Tynes does not agree with the team placing him on the non-football injury list Saturday as all teams had to reach the NFL-mandated 53-man season opening roster.
Tynes, who along with guard Carl Nicks is battling a MRSA-type staph infection, told FoxSports.com that he should be placed on injured reserve instead. He said he will file an official grievance against the Bucs with the league office.
"This whole thing is wrong," said Tynes, who signed with Tampa Bay in June. "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.''
The Bucs told Tynes that they will continue to pay him his $840,000 base salary, even though it is not required of teams to pay players on the non-football injury list. Tynes said he should be placed on IR so that it does not affect his post-career pension. He will not get pension credit for his time on the NFI list.
"If I drop a 45-pound plate on my foot while lifting weights in the weight room at the facility, it's IR,'' Tynes told FoxSports.com. "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."
