Free agent linebacker DeAndre Levy has filed an injury grievance against the Lions, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press first reported last weekend that Levy would take this route.
Levy’s decision stems from the fact that the Lions passed him on their physical when they released him in March, even though he was dealing with a knee injury. By giving Levy a clean bill of health, the Lions avoided having to pay the 30-year-old the $1.75MM injury guarantee in his contract.
“I figured there was something wrong because they passed me on a physical when I couldn’t even sit down to a chair or get into a linebacker stance at the time,” Levy told Rothstein. “In my mind, I didn’t think about the legal contract part of it. I thought, this is f—– up, like I can’t get into position, how can I pass a physical. I didn’t know it was a physical the first time.”
Levy suffered the injury in Week 1 last year and only made five appearances in 2016 as a result. He underwent meniscus surgery once during the season and again this past April, and now he’s “struggling to get up and down stairs.” In Levy’s view, the Lions treated him unfairly, so he regrets playing through the injury last season and putting himself in an even worse situation physically.
“This set me back another year and has been extremely difficult to deal with,” Levy said. “Physically difficult and then being chewed up and spat on after eight years of sacrificing so much for them.”
Before his mostly lost 2016, Levy missed 15 of 16 games in 2015 with a hip injury. He only played in six of 32 regular-season games during the previous two seasons, then, and will also miss a substantial portion of the 2017 campaign. Levy informed Rothstein that five or six interested teams have contacted him since he became a free agent, but he has held off on signing because he won’t be cleared until November or December. Further, after what happened in Detroit, Levy doesn’t want to put his fate in the hands of an NFL team’s medical staff again.
“I think right now, I’d be foolish, at this point in my career,” Levy said. “To put my health in the well-being of NFL doctors.”
While it’s unclear if Levy actually will play again, any team that signs him would be getting an accomplished defender. Before injuries derailed his career, Levy starred at times from 2009-14, particularly when he intercepted six passes in 2013 and then tallied 155 tackles, 2.5 sacks and a pick in ’14 en route to second-team All-Pro honors. The Lions handed Levy a four-year, $33.7MM extension in the ensuing offseason, but he only saw half of that deal through.
