Joe Kapp’s lawsuit paved the way for NFL Free Agency

In 1967, Kapp joined the Minnesota Vikings, then coached by Bud Grant, another CFL veteran. In his third season, Kapp led the Vikings to Super Bowl IV, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Because his three-year deal with Minnesota was up, Kapp turned down the team’s new three-year $100,000-a-year offer. Aware of Kapp’s injuries and inconsistent passes, the Vikings released him.

“Joe Kapp wasn’t the prettiest passer-by, but he was a vocal man in the locker room,” said Joe Horrigan, retired executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “The truth was he was at the end of his career. He was held together with gum and staples.”

The Vikings still controlled the rights to Kapp’s services, and in October 1970 traded him to the mournful Patriots in exchange for John Charles, a cornerback and first-round pick in the 1972 draft. Kapp signed a personal services contract that paid him approximately $500,000 and provided a less restrictive bridge between the Vikings and Patriots deals, Horrigan said.

The league asked Sullivan to let Kapp sign a standard contract, but the Patriots’ owner kept delaying it. Sullivan had a crush on Kapp’s celebrity, despite the quarterback leading the team to a 2-12 record after the trade.

Kapp, on the advice of John Elliot Cook, his lawyer and agent, refused to sign a standard contract and was forced to leave training camp in the summer of 1971 without a contract. That led to the final, fateful encounter in Bell’s office.

A Northern California federal judge hearing Kapp’s first case found the draft and the Rozelle rule to be “patently unreasonable and illegal.” A jury in a subsequent case found that Kapp deserved no damages from the Patriots or the NFL, creating something of a pyrrhic victory.