Former St. Louis Ram Sues Patriots

By Jeff Christenbury in Patriots ⋅ February 15, 2008 at 8:28pm ⋅ Post a comment

Willie Gary. I know, never heard of him either. As an undrafted rookie free agent safety, Gary played sparingly for the St. Louis Rams in 2001. He’s now suing the Patriots, including owner Bob Kraft and coach Bill Belichick, claiming they robbed him and others of future money by videotaping a Rams practice before the Super Bowl and used the footage to win by cheating.

Gary wants $150,000 for each Ram player, $25,000 for each to make up the difference in pay between the winning and losing players, and $125,000 to each player in leiu of a Super Bowl Ring. Gary claims he came up with the $125,000 figure with what he thought it would fetch on Ebay. The lawsuit – a class action lawsuit which Gary has joined – has not been in the news until now.

No comment from the Patriots organization has been released.

My Take: Though Gary’s lawsuit may seem pointless, it just goes to the notion the Spygate story isn’t going away any time soon. Gary now has what he wants, a national spotlight, and is perhaps doing things that many other more prevalent players want to do. I think it’s perposterous to join a lawsuit which goes directly against what the NFL has said to this point, that there is no conclusiveness to the Patriots using any videotape to gain a competitive advantage. We’ll see where this goes, but I’m sure ready for this story to move on.

Tags: Patriots, Spygate