Bye: ‘Unfortunate’ Lindsay is ‘on the hook’ to fund Pro Bowl trip
Dec 26, 2018, 4:33 PM | Updated: 7:14 pm
If the injured Phillip Lindsay wants to attend his first Pro Bowl this year, it looks as if it’ll be on his own dime.
Requiring surgery on the wrist he injured against the Oakland Raiders on Monday, the Denver Broncos rookie will not play in the game and as such will not be eligible for compensation for travel and other accommodations from the NFL, who reserves that for full participants, Mike Klis of 9News first reported Wednesday.
“Had he been a full participant, obviously, they’d take care of everything. But because he’s not, he’s on the hook for everything,” said “Stokley and Zach” co-host Zach Bye, who called the whole situation “unfortunate.”
The Broncos organization, while certainly having the funds to do so, cannot pay for Lindsay’s trip either under the league’s salary cap rules.
“The Broncos, if they could by NFL rule, you know they would,” said Cecil Lammey, who filled in on “Stokley and Zach” on Wednesday, calling it a good business opportunity for the organization.
Bye said it’s a missed opportunity for Broncos Country as well because there will be no Pro Bowl content surrounding Lindsay to consume.
“It’s unfortunate for Phillip that he’s not going to be there, it’s unfortunate for the Broncos that they don’t get to use Phillip Lindsay as a vessel to promote the Broncos, and it’s unfortunate for us because we’re missing all of that content that would have been there had he been at the Pro Bowl,” Bye said.
As first reported by The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala, a Go Fund Me page to send Lindsay to the Pro Bowl has already been establish, with nearly $1,000 already donated as of Wednesday evening.
But while Bye said he thinks the sentiment of the Go Fund Me page is “great,” Lindsay will not be receiving a dollar from him to send him to Florida. The Broncos running back made $480,000 in 2018.
“I hope he takes the money out of his pocket and pays for his flight. Because as great as we think Phillip Lindsay is going to be for the next handful of years, nothing is promised in the National Football League,” Bye said. “He may never be a Pro Bowler again. And I think it’s important for him to go.”
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
