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In response to
"Was there? I'm legit asking. And please correct me...he moved the tryout to another place"
by
Remlik
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"Waylaid by Waivers"
Posted by
David (aka David)
Jun 5 '20, 17:38
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"Wording on liability waivers for tryouts can differ from team to team. The intention is to ensure players can’t demand workers’ compensation for an injury suffered during a workout because they are not team employees.
But the Kaepernick workout was to be unlike any other – and so was the waiver.
A review of the waiver sent to Kaepernick on Nov. 13 as well as waivers used by two NFL teams and the one used by the NFL for the scouting combine shows how the league blended the wording in those previously used documents.
However, multiple portions of the 13-paragraph document concerned Kaepernick, who was already skeptical because no team agreed to a tryout in the past two-plus years.
So Kaepernick and his team wondered: Why now? When officials of multiple teams informed his representatives they too didn’t understand the reason or timing of the NFL-staged workout, Kaepernick’s suspicion deepened.
Two portions of the waiver in particular raised red flags for Kaepernick’s camp.
The first was the paragraph that required Kaepernick agree that “he has been made no promise of employment" by participating in the workout. That wording wasn't unlike the language that appeared in waivers for teams or the combine, including the one Kaepernick signed to participate in the event in 2011.
Kaepernick’s representatives, however, viewed the portion as problematic. They wanted to ensure they were not signing something that could work as an employment release. Kaepernick’s representatives also didn’t understand their client signing a waiver releasing all 32 teams when the league had yet to provide a list of personnel who planned to attend the workout.
Paragraph 7 of the waiver presented another problem.
Kaepernick had to agree to "indemnify and hold harmless" the individuals running the workout, the NFL and its 32 teams “from and against any and all claims ... caused by, arising out of, occurring during, or related directly or indirectly to the Workout, Players' presence at the Facility, and any medical treatment or services rendered in connection with or necessitated by Players' participation in the Workout."
But Kaepernick and his legal team saw that as more than just injury-related waiver language.
The phrase “arising out of, occurring during, or related directly or indirectly to the Workout,” was too broad for the Kaepernick camp’s liking, though largely similar terminology was included in team and combine waivers.
The concern: what constitutes as “directly or indirectly”? If Kaepernick went unsigned and later learned that the teams attending the workout had agreed not to sign him, could lawyers point to that line saying he had waived rights of anything directly or indirectly related to the tryout? What other rights could fall under that umbrella?"
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