Former Kicker Lawrence Tynes Sues Buccaneers Over Staph Infection

Kicker Lawrence Tynes has decided to sue the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after he was forced to retire for contracting MRSA, aka a staph infection, at the team’s facility.

Tynes made a name for himself while on the New York Giants, where he won two Super Bowls against the New England Patriots. In 2013, he signed a free agency deal with Tampa Bay worth around $905,000.

However, he never played a game for the NFC South team. During training camp, he contracted a staph infection on his kicking foot that resulted in him missing the season and  departing from the NFL.

According to this $20 million suit against the Buccaneers, the team allegedly knew about the outbreak, yet did not warn the players and attempted to cover it up. As a result, both Tynes and Carl Nicks got the disease and had to retire because of it — Nicks later won a $3 million lawsuit against his former team.

On top of this, Tynes had to seek outside help to diagnose the life threatening disease. “No one cultured my toe at the facility,” Tynes told ESPN. “I left that facility on my own and found a doctor in town and said, ‘Can you look at my toe because I think all the doctors at the Bucs are lying to me.’ And I took my sock off, he looks at my toe, without any scientific study or anything, he said, ‘You have MRSA.’”

Now, the $20 million is in regards to future earnings. Despite earning less than a million for the 2014 season, the lawyers claim Tynes had at least five more years left in the tank. That is until the Bucs’ alleged negligence cut his career short.

Johnthan Banks also contracted the virus, but did not miss any playing time.