Ex-Patriot Givens sues Titans

David Givens, a key wide receiver on two of the Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning teams before signing a free-agent contract with the Tennessee Titans before the 2006 season, is suing the franchise for $25 million, according to a report on ESPN.com.

Givens, who suffered a severe and ultimately career-ended knee injury during Week 10 of his first season with the Titans, alleges in the suit that the club did not disclose all of its medical information regarding his knee.

According to the ESPN report:

. . . then-Titans general manager Floyd Reese [who, coincidentally, is now a senior football adviser for the Patriots] and coach Jeff Fisher were given a memo about a physical examination for Givens taken before the 2006 season. He signed a five-year, $24 million contract with Tennessee in 2006 after four seasons with the New England Patriots.

The memo, according to WTVF-TV, read:

“Dr. [Tomas] Byrd is concerned about his ability to play for very long. His left knee has a large defect on the medial femoral condyle and may need surgery at some point. Dr. Byrd is concerned that he will miss some time and not be able to go through all of training camp and may not be able to make a full 16-game season.”

Dan Warlick, Givens’s attorney, said the player was never made aware of the condition of his knee prior to his injury.

“Had he known those things he would not put himself in a position where he ended up playing and blowing his knee apart,” Warlick told Tennessee television station WTVF.

According to comments in the Tennessean newspaper by Givens’s former agent, Brad Blank, the tough receiver who spent four seasons with the Patriots has had a difficult time coming to grips with how his career ended. Givens is currently 29 years old.

“It’s emotional and physical, and the idea that his career was cut short. … The issue is what could have been done better and was there some kind of malpractice or negligence,” Blank told the newspaper, as cited in the ESPN report. “His knee looks awful. Emotionally, in terms of his upbeat nature, he is also not the happy-go-lucky, affable guy I used to know.