Chris Maragos Alleges Former Medical Team Cut Short his NFL Career

The star special teamer believes the care he received from the Eagles after PCL surgery was negligent

USA Today

Former Eagles Pro Bowl special teams player Chris Maragos was in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court earlier this week to allege that his NFL career was cut short by "medical negligence," after a knee injury he suffered in the team's 2017 Super Bowl LII season.

Opening arguments began Monday in the civil trial in which Maragos is accusing that "negligent acts hastened and contributed to the end of [his] professional football career.”

Those sued include Pittsburgh-based orthopedic surgeon James Bradley and Rothman Orthopaedics Institute, whose doctors served as Eagles team physicians and oversaw the rehabilitation from PCL surgery.

The argument from Maragos' side is that Bradley failed to address a second injury in Maragos’ knee: a torn meniscus, something that allowed the safety to advance in his rehab, which further damaged his knee.

Maragos now walks with a limp and his attorneys are arguing that he “suffered severe and permanent injuries, great pain and anguish in both mind and body."

Maragos' attorneys explained their side of the timeline in a statement released before the trial began:

"In May 2018, an MRI revealed that Maragos' injury had been getting worse and that he was suffering from a persistent partial tear. Dr. Bradley and Rothman Orthopaedics should have held off on advancing Maragos' activities in light of the results of this MRI.

"Instead, Dr. Bradley and the team at Rothman Orthopaedics released Maragos, allowing him to advance his activities to the point of permitting running on dry land. These activities ordered by Bradley and administered by Rothman resulted in the undue stress on Maragos' knee, leading to further complications of the tear and ultimately contributing to the premature end of Maragos’ NFL career."

Former teammates Nick Foles, Trey Burton, and Jordan Hicks are testifying on Maragos' behalf.

Maragos was one of the best special teams players in the NFL for the Eagles from 2014 to 2017.

At the crux of the debate is the meniscus injury and how it was handled. 

The defendants claim that the medical team was well aware of the added complication but additional surgeries would have been irresponsible and that severe arthritis, along with bowed legs, complicated Maragos' ability to return.

"The team of doctors wanted Maragos to return to the NFL," Rothman attorney Melissa L. Mazur told the jury, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, "unfortunately, he just had a really, really bad injury that he couldn’t come back from."

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen