Former Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd plans to file a $180 million lawsuit against renowned surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, according to multiple reports.
Per ESPN, Floyd alleges that a simple arthroscopic surgery on his knee in September 2016 turned into a more serious surgery for a microfracture injury. The more significant operation required a pain blocker be given to Floyd, which he says paralyzed a nerve and muscle in his leg, essentially ending his NFL career.
“If you break something, you pay for it,” Floyd’s lawyer Brad Sohn said in a statement to NFL.com. “And this lawsuit seeks to hold the parties’ responsible who we allege have done so. This guy went in for a routine knee scope and left without his incredibly lucrative career.”
The lawsuit targets Andrews and the Andrews Institute for Orthopedic Surgery, not the Vikings.
According to Sports Illustrated, Floyd is seeking $180 million because it aligns with the amount top players at Floyd’s position would make in their career.
Andrews is famous for operating on star athletes, including former Vikings running back Adrian Peterson after he tore his ACL in December 2011, only to return the next season and rush for more than 2,000 yards.
Minnesota selected Floyd with the 23rd overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. He played in one game before injuries derailed his 2016 season and he didn’t play at all in 2017.
In March, Floyd made headlines when he wrote in an Instagram post that Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer slandered his name, posting screenshots of Zimmer’s quotes from the 2016 season, one of them saying Floyd was kind of out of sight out of mind” because he was often injured.
“These words were used to slander my name, tarnish me as a person and a player,” Floyd wrote. “So easy to forget the kinds of years a [sic] kid has had when your support system has so much BS [sic] to say about you.”
Floyd alleged that Zimmer made the comments just two days before his scheduled knee surgery with Andrews, which was only supposed to keep him out 3-4 weeks. Instead, nerve and muscle damage kept him out much longer.
“We didn’t think it would be this long, to be honest with you,” Zimmer said at the time, via the Pioneer Press “We didn’t think it was going to be, like, six years worth of hurt.”
