Tag: Settlement

Michael Irvin reaches settlement with Marriott, back on NFL Network in Week 1

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Hall of Famer has been suspended by NFL Network since February; the settlement comes in time for him to be on-set for Week 1 coverage.

The Playmaker is back on NFL Network, just in time for Week 1 of the 2023 season.

Former Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin has reached a settlement with the Marriott hotel chain in his $100 million defamation lawsuit dating back to February. The settlement paved the way for Irvin to once again appear on NFL Network for the first time since the outlet’s Super Bowl coverage began on Feb. 6.

The late-breaking development was first reported by the Dallas Morning News.

“Michael Irvin has been reinstated and will be a part of NFL Network’s coverage of the 2023 season,” said Alex Riethmiller, NFL Media vice president of communication, via a statement.

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Irvin had been indefinitely suspended from the network following claims from a Phoenix Marriott employee that the Hall of Famer made sexually lewd comments to her in a hotel lobby. Irvin admitted that he did not recall all of the exact details of his exchange with the woman but denied her accusations; several eyewitnesses had come forward backing up Irvin’s version of events that nothing untoward happened. Video footage showed nothing out of the ordinary. Irvin was barred from all Super Bowl coverage on NFL Network and ESPN though no criminal charges were ever filed against him.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

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Saints waive LB Isaiah Pryor from IR with injury settlement

The Saints waived rookie linebacker Isaiah Pryor from injured reserve with an injury settlement:

Rookie defensive back Isaiah Pryor landed on the New Orleans Saints’ injured reserve list with an undisclosed injury after their first preseason game, and he’s now been released from his contract after agreeing to an injury settlement with the team. He saw more snaps on special teams (16) than defense (10) in their preseason opener with the Houston Texans.

Listed as a linebacker, Pryor lined up all over the defense at Notre Dame before turning pro, including safety. He’ll have an opportunity to catch on elsewhere around the league once he’s healthy enough to pass a physical. That versatility will be an asset for the first-year player.

So why now? Pryor likely progressed in his recovery to a point where he doesn’t need regular treatment from the training staff, so the team agreed to pay however many weeks’ salary he’d earn while continuing to recover in one lump sum. That gets Pryor off the books and saves the team some salary cap space while making him a free agent and opening the door for him to play somewhere else this year.

It also frees up the medical staff to spend more time working with other players, including those who could return to play this year like rookie left tackle Trevor Penning and defensive tackle Malcolm Roach. The injury settlements aren’t perfect — teams often haggle with players and their agents over exactly how much they’re owed — but it’s maybe the closest we’ll get to seeing both sides made happy in the NFL. The team saves time and money, while the player gets a shot to play again.

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‘In the best interest of the organization’: Jerry Jones addresses Cowboys’ cheerleader settlement

The Cowboys owner spoke publicly for the first time about the $2.4 million paid to 4 cheerleaders following 2015’s voyeurism scandal. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke on the record for the first time about the $2.4 million settlement the club reached with four team cheerleaders in 2016 over accusations of voyeurism. The incident, involving former Cowboys senior PR man Rich Dalrymple, occurred in 2015 and was brought to light earlier this month in an ESPN article.

Jones was interviewed by Meredith Land of NBC-5 in Dallas on Friday before an event honoring him for his contributions to cancer research. Land took the opportunity to also get the 79-year-old’s first public comments about the scandal.

When asked about why the Cowboys elected to reach a settlement with the cheerleaders, Jones had this to say:

“First of all, the cheerleaders are an iconic- a vital- part of what our organization is, the Dallas Cowboys. And so we took these allegations very seriously. We immediately began a look-see, an investigation into the situation. I can assure you that had we found that it need be, there would have been firings or there would have been suspicion. As it turns out, in the best interest of our cheerleaders, in the best interest of the organization, in the best interest of our fans, what we decided to do was show the cheerleaders how seriously we took these allegations and we wanted them to know that we were real serious, and so the settlement was the way to go.”

Jones uses the phrase in the best interest three times in his answer, referring to the cheerleaders whose privacy was violated, the team’s considerable fanbase, and the worldwide brand that is the Dallas Cowboys organization. Whether reaching a large cash settlement behind closed doors and swearing all parties to secrecy with a non-disclosure agreement was actually the best outcome for all three of those entities is highly debatable.

Dalrymple continued to work for the Cowboys for another six years after the incident. ESPN reported that his access to the cheerleaders’ locker room was revoked, a disciplinary letter was placed in his personnel file, and security changes were made to relevant areas of AT&T Stadium.

Dalrymple announced his retirement suddenly on February 2, ending a 32-year tenure with the franchise.

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Keith Washington agrees to Saints injury settlement; what it means

The New Orleans Saints have agreed to an injury settlement with second-year cornerback Keith Washington, allowing him to seek work elsewhere:

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Second-year New Orleans Saints cornerback Keith Washington II has worked out an injury settlement with the team, per his representatives with Icon Sports Consulting. This means that he will be released from the injured reserve list with a buyout equivalent to the estimated weeks he would have missed during the regular season, allowing him to try out for other NFL teams once he has recovered from this undisclosed injury (NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reports that wide receiver Jalen McCleskey will probably receive his own injury settlement).

It also means that, for now, his time in New Orleans is up. There is a waiting period until players who take injury settlements can re-sign with the same team (typically six weeks plus the agreed estimate). For example, if Washington’s agents and the Saints concurred that he would be out until Week 5, he wouldn’t be eligible to re-up with New Orleans until Week 11. In the meantime, other teams could court him.

In the past, this was used to keep teams from circumventing injured reserve rules. Now that players can return after just three weeks of inactivity, it works more as a tool to manage long-term but not season-ending injuries. If an injured player was just brought in for training camp and was considered a longshot to make the team, signing them to an injury settlement frees up the training staff to focus on other members of the team when they are sidelined by injury in-season.

The downside is that the player taking a settlement — Washington, in this case — must seek treatment on their own without the support of a team medical staff. And they could also end up taking a deal lower than what they’re worth; the team could argue his recovery timeline is only 6 weeks, for example, while a second opinion sought by his agent predicts a 10-week recovery, resulting in an 8-week settlement.

Each case is handled differently. And the long and short of it here for the Saints and Washington is that his time in New Orleans is likely over. He signed with the team as an undrafted rookie out of West Virginia last summer and spent the year on the practice squad. While the Saints may have liked his potential, they apparently don’t see him as critical piece to their 2021 plans. Maybe he returns in a few months, but he’ll probably find work elsewhere first.

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