Green Bay to cut ex-Bear star

By GREG AUMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2000

A month ago, Tyrone Goodson was looking forward to another chance to show why he deserved to play wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers.

Now the former Central star is barely on speaking terms with the team. When he arrives in Green Bay today, it will be with a cast on his left leg for a physical examination to help determine how much of an injury settlement he'll receive when the Packers cut him.

"I'm just out here, hanging in the wind," said Goodson, who could be sidelined until October or later recovering from surgery to repair torn meniscus cartilage in his left knee, an injury he says team doctors failed to diagnose on two occasions.

Packers head trainer Pepper Burruss had a different story Thursday, and while he couldn't comment on medical specifics, he said his staff had not seen nor directly heard from Goodson since June 5, when Goodson missed a scheduled meeting with a team doctor to discuss the injury.

"I've learned that with most things, there's your story, there's my story and the real story," Burruss said. "We don't know what has happened. I'm here to take care of the players, and to do that, we need communication, we need availability and we need access. Without those three things, we can't do our job."

Goodson said he noticed pain and swelling in his left knee after the team's second minicamp in April. He was examined by team doctors twice but said both times he was told there was no damage.

"They kept telling me, "Oh, you're fine. There's nothing wrong. ... We'll just rest you."' Goodson said Thursday from Columbia, Mo., where he is rehabilitating. "I said, "If I'm fine, then why is my knee swollen up as big as my head? Why does it keep hurting? Why when I'm running does it feel like something's ripping?' Something isn't right. I've been in sports long enough to know that. I'm not a fool."

Burruss, however, said Goodson told a team doctor in May the injury had occurred not in April, but last year. Then on June 5, during another examination with a team doctor, he refused to bring an MRI he had gotten from an outside examination, Burruss said. He agreed to meet with the doctor later, away from training camp, but didn't show up, Burruss said.

The Packers have no record of Goodson suffering a knee injury during practice.

Goodson wouldn't discuss his problems with the Packers, saying only, "we went at it" and "we had some words." He said he sought outside opinions from two orthopedic surgeons, who told him he had torn the meniscus in his knee and needed surgery. Having lost his faith in team physicians, he said he told the Packers he did not want the team to handle the surgery.

"I didn't want them doing the surgery or the rehab," said Goodson, who had surgery June 29 and must wear a walking cast for at least two more weeks.

Burruss said he received a call in June from a doctor in Alabama who said Goodson (who played collegiately at Auburn) had scheduled arthroscopic surgery but failed to show up. He later learned Goodson was treated and undergoing rehabilitation at the University of Missouri medical center.

The Packers paid for the surgery, but the two sides have grown further apart due to the lack of communication during the past two months.

"I think any team takes a personal affront when you go to another doctor for a second opinion, not to mention surgery," said Richard De Luca, Goodson's Fort Lauderdale-based agent. "It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, and I think it definitely puts a strain on the relationship."

Burruss said a situation like Goodson's was "extremely rare" in his 20-plus years in the NFL.

"This is a man who has shot himself in the foot so many times that there's nothing left," he said.

That Goodson will be cut is a foregone conclusion, and the only question remaining is how much of a settlement he will receive. NFL teams cannot cut a player while he is injured unless a settlement is reached, but to do so, team doctors must evaluate how long a rehabilitation the injury requires.

There is a significant difference, however, between preseason pay and the salary given to a player on an active NFL roster during the regular season. A player like Goodson would normally make about $700 a week during the preseason, a paltry sum compared to the $275,000 he said he would make if he stayed with the team all season.

If the Packer doctors' diagnosis is that Goodson's rehabilitation should not extend beyond the start of the season in September, the settlement could be as little as $5,000. If the injury were to sideline him until October, the settlement could be as much as six figures.

Goodson said the Packers contacted De Luca earlier this month and offered a settlement, but on advice of the NFL Players Association, he declined the offer. NFLPA officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Even without the injury, Goodson faced long odds to make the Packers. Since camp began July 22, Green Bay has had as many as 14 receivers on the roster battling for five or six jobs. Goodson spent nearly all of last season on the Packers' practice squad but has yet to play in an NFL game.

The 26-year-old had more experience than the rookies he would have been up against in camp, but four of the spots were essentially locked up.

On July 16, the Wisconsin Post-Crescent previewed the Packers' camp by giving odds on each player's chances of making the team. Among receivers, six were listed as "on the bubble" or better. Goodson was one of seven others listed as "long shots."

Goodson was upset with the Packers this spring when he asked to be allocated to NFL Europe, but the team told him he would be better off training in Green Bay instead.

Burruss said he was unaware of any scheduled examination for Goodson this weekend, but if he does show up in Green Bay, his staff would welcome the chance to examine him.

"It would really be nice to see Tyrone," Burruss said.

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