JUST FOR FUN: Yes a Guy Just Sued the NFL For an Alleged $100MM in Emotional Distress Because His Favorite Football Player Dropped in the Draft And I Pulled the Complaint…

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So real quick non-TCPA related news.

A football fan identifying himself as John Doe of Lawrenceville, GA has sued the NFL for $100MM because of Shedeur Sanders’ draft slide. Yes, this is preposterous. But then again its kind of interesting from a legal perspective.

The media is covering this story at large yet they have not provided a copy of the Complaint so I figured I would.

The meat of the charging allegations are:

Plaintiff is a dedicated fan of Colorado football and has closely followed Shedeur Sanders throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Plaintiff attended the Colorado Buffaloes’ first game against the TCU Homed Frogs on September 2, 2023, witnessing firsthand Sanders’ exceptional talent and potential as a quarterback in Coach Deion Sanders’ debut with the program.

Plaintiff regularly consumes media content related to Shedeur Sanders, including programming from Well Off Media.

Despite Sanders’ demonstrated skills and significant attention during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, the NFL drafted him at the 144th pick during the 2025 NFL Draft.

Among the alleged causes of action is a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1-7), which I find particularly interesting.

The NFL may be viewed as a monopoly of sorts and the Sherman Antitrust Act generally does prohibit agreements or conspiracies that unreasonably restrain interstate trade. So the claim an alleged “collusion among NFL teams to influence the drafting process and the subsequent low selection of Shedeur Sanders constitutes a conspiracy to restrain trade and limit competition within the league” is not completely insane.

Still the Plaintiff’s effort to recover $100,000,000.00 “for the harm caused to the Plaintiff and the impact of the NFL’s actions on his emotional well-being” is certainly outlandish, but enjoyably so.

Full complaint here: NFL Complaint

Happy weekend all.

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Published by Eric "Czar" Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

2 Comments

  1. Gotta read the complaint, Thanks Czar!

    Oh yes he’s clearly very ‘distressed’ so distressed in fact that while he wanted to hide his actual identity by filing as a ‘John Doe’ he didn’t realize that the Civil Cover Sheet required his real details as a pro se – DUH

    Oh and it was real ingenious to leave out the hyphens in his phone number on the complaint itself (so no one would realize it’s actually his number and try to call him out !?!?) but again provided on the Civil Cover Sheet…

    Reply

  2. John Doe is easily identifiable. That his lawsuit is pro se is a real red flag. The N. Dist. of GA, where he filed, doesn’t have much patience for BS. My guess is: dismissal with prejudice PDQ.

    Reply

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