Broncos player suing NFL, Chargers claiming stadium mats caused injury

Aaron Patrick, an outside linebacker and special teams player for the Denver Broncos, is suing the NFL and the Los Angeles Chargers for the placement of sideline mats that he says caused him to tear his ACL.

Patrick was injured in overtime of the Broncos' Oct. 17 game against the Chargers when he attempted to make a tackle on a punt return.

In the lawsuit, which was obtained by TMZ, Patrick claims his momentum carried him to the sideline area where he had to avoid an NFL official who monitors TV timeouts. That forced him to step on mats that were used to protect the league's replay monitor cords and cables. His foot became caught in the mats, causing his knee to bend awkwardly and tearing his ACL.

He will now miss the remainder of the 2022 NFL season. 

Patrick's lawsuit puts blame on the Chargers, the NFL and ESPN for his injury, saying all of them should have known the mats were a safety hazard. 

From Patrick's lawyer, via TMZ:

"Player safety should be the foremost of importance to the NFL and its owners," said Patrick's attorney, William M. Berman of Berman & Riedel. "The NFL is a multi-billion-dollar sports enterprise and business, and it needs to do everything possible to protect its players from non-contact game injuries." 

"As for Patrick's injuries," Berman continued, "SoFi Stadium was built at a $5,000,000,000 expense; the stadium should have the state-of-the-art equipment to protect for player safety, and not use the type of $100 mats that you would expect to see in a restaurant kitchen."

This lawsuit comes out just a couple of days after the NFLPA released a list of guidelines it wants for safer playing surfaces.

One of the items on that list? 

The "clearing of excess people and equipment from the sidelines."

Probably not a coincidence that item was listed given the pending lawsuit that was coming from Patrick. 

Patrick is in his second year with the Broncos, appearing in 17 games during that time. He has recorded 11 total tackles in his career.