Rogers gets 20 days to respond to Lions lawsuit
A federal judge has given Charles Rogers and the National Football League Players Association a 20-day deadline to file a response to a lawsuit in which the Detroit Lions seek to recover $6.1 million from the former Michigan State star.
An arbitrator ruled last year that Rogers must repay two-thirds of a $9.1 million signing bonus. Rogers was the Lions' first-found pick of the 2003 NFL draft.
The arbitrator ruled that Rogers defaulted on his contract in 2005 when he served a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. The Lions cut him the following season.
Rogers has not repaid the money and the Lions sued him Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
Rogers, the second overall pick in the 2003 draft, recently served jail time for violating his probation in a domestic-violence case.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Julian Cook.