“If there weren’t a lockout, I’d be in Cleveland,” Ivey said between sets. “But they know I’m down here. Obviously I can’t talk to them, but Kala, she talks to them and lets them know about everything. At first I thought it was a little strange, but I’m used to it now. If I were in Cleveland, I’d be doing the same stuff.”
The rules of the NFL lockout have left the burly defensive lineman and other injured players in an awkward position as they try to obtain proper medical care for their ailments.
The lockout forced Ivey, a Maryland product, to find his own rehab facility and coordinator because NFL players aren’t allowed access to team facilities, or even permitted to speak with team trainers, until a new collective bargaining agreement is signed.
But according to the NFL, lockout rules permit trainers to speak with third-party medical providers to assist players recovering from football injuries.
So for Ivey and others rehabbing at Maryland, Flagg is the person who most closely resembles an NFL employee these days.
“Anything that happens, their trainers will call me,” said Flagg, an independent contractor who also works with Maryland’s athletes. “It’s weird, because sometimes the guys will be sitting right there while I’m on the phone and they can’t talk to the coaches.”
There has been progress toward ending the NFL lockout, but injured players remain a concern for the NFL Players Association. Because the organization decertified as a union in March, it can’t take any formal action on behalf of its injured members until the lockout is over.
NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said the players are on their own in finding quality medical care, and the care they find generally won’t be as good as they would receive from their teams. “Not to take anything against the trainers helping these players out,” he said, “but it’s just not the same.”
Former Miami Dolphins tight end Joey Haynos, however, said he considers Flagg “just as good as some fancy-schmancy rehab specialist.”
Haynos, a Gonzaga High graduate who played at Maryland, was battling for the starting tight end job with the Miami Dolphins before he sustained a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot during a preseason game last August.
He had season-ending surgery in September, and the Dolphins subsequently waived him.
Once he recovered enough to begin strengthening his foot this winter, Haynos found himself in a situation that many injured U.S. workers confront. He had to find a suitable medical facility near his home in Kensington that would accept his worker’s compensation money. Upon realizing Flagg could be paid with his insurance money, Haynos said the decision to rehab at Maryland was “a no-brainer.”
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