Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com reports that the Seattle Seahawks failing safety Kevin Ellison during his physical could put the San Diego Chargers in a bind:

"Per a league source, the Seahawks' move creates a potential problem for the Chargers.

Given that Seattle's doctors have determined that Ellison can't pass a physical, it means that Ellison (in the view of the men in the white coats) came in the door too injured to play. Which means that the Chargers possibly waived him while he was injured.

Which fuels a potential injury grievance against the Chargers."

According to reports out of San Diego this off-season, Ellison did not undergo any surgical procedures. Aside from the mini-camp he was instructed by the team to not attend, following his arrest for possession of a controlled substance (Vicodin), Ellison had been participating in the team's off-season program, and was working with the first-team defense during the final two weeks of the Chargers' OTA sessions, which concluded last Thursday.

It's important to remember that medical staffs, and medical decisions, vary from team-to-team. A condition that one staff deems acceptable, may be considered a non-starter by the next team. We know this because of the poking, pulling, and prodding that draft prospects go through with each NFL team's medical staffs at the annual Scouting Combine, and the reports that always surface about how Player A has "medical red-flags" that hurt his draft stock, or remove him entirely from some team's draft boards.

With three knee operations (two on the left, one on the right) during his time at USC, Ellison was that kind of player before the 2009 NFL Draft. Given his physical talent, instincts, and production for the Trojans, Ellison's knees were likely the only reason he slid all the way to the sixth round of the '09 draft.

So, Ellison may not have been deemed by the Seahawks to be "too injured to play", as Florio puts it. Instead, the Seahawks' medical staff could have determined that Ellison's knees presented an increased liability risk if they cleared him to play, so they failed him on his physical.

Could Ellison potentially file a grievance against the Chargers? Of course he could, but I wouldn't paint this as a nefarious scandal hatched by Pete Carroll to stick it to Chargers GM A.J. Smith for the various, and ridiculous reasons Florio suggests.

It's not like one injury settlement is going to keep Smith from removing the "Hard Ass" badge he wears with pride.