The Dallas Cowboys filed a complaint against former Cowboys defensive lineman Jay Ratliff last week. The team is hoping to receive a settlement from Ratliff, who after being placed on the PUP list, told the Cowboys he was still unable to play. This led to Dallas deciding to release Ratliff in October who then signed with the Chicago Bears and was cleared to play a week later.
This caused quite an uproar among the Cowboys’ faithful who are now hoping to receive some vindication. The Cowboys brought their complaint before the NFL management council and the players union. The collective bargaining agreement doesn’t cover this type of dispute.
Dallas would like to get some money back from Ratliff and who can blame them? Ratliff clearly wanted out of Dallas but didn’t mind taking some of their money with him. Money that he did not earn.
Although the collective bargaining agreement doesn’t specifically address cases like this, I believe that Dallas is entitled to some compensation and I think that it will be hard for the management council and the players union to see it differently.
It will be interesting to see how they address this issue. However they choose to deal with the Cowboys’ complaint, it will probably become the NFL standard for how to handle these situations in the future.
On a side note, the team and fans can only hope that the issue will be addressed and resolved well before football starts back up because we all know this team never needs any extra attention.
Somehow I missed the part where he couldn’t play here on the PUP list, and then played a week later in Chicago. I always liked Jay – spoke extensively with him on the phone when he hired my company to install some things at his Southlake, TX home in 2009 – but this is just shitty, no matter which way you turn it.
Cowboys should recover some money from him for that. Thanks Seth.