Former Chargers Part of Suit Against NFL

Eight former NFL developmental squad players, including two former Chargers, filed suit against the league and its teams in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, charging that the creation of squads amounts to price fixing.

“It’s outrageous,” said attorney Joseph A. Yablonski, who represents the players and the NFL Players Assn. in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. “It’s as wrong as the nose on your face.”

The former Chargers are Ricky Andrews, a linebacker who was a 10th-round pick in the 1989 draft, and Craig Davis, an free-agent H-back from Southern. Others are Jim Bishop of the Washington Redskins; John Buddenberg, who was under contract with the Cleveland Browns and Minnesota Vikings; Gary Couch of Minnesota, and Anthony Brown, Matthew Jaworski and Wesley Pritchett of the Buffalo Bills.

The suit alleged that the league and its clubs last year illegally agreed to establish a six-person developmental squad for each team and pay those players $1,000 per week over the 16-week season.

Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFLPA, called it “a blatant violation under antitrust laws.”

NFL spokesman Joe Browne said he had not seen the documents and could not comment until he had a chance to review them.

The players’ union must prove a conspiracy in restraint of trade, “namely that competitors have gotten together and tried to fix the market,” Yablonski said.