His signing by Los Angeles Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom in 1975 triggered the end to the so-called "Rozelle Rule", under which a player's former team was compensated when he moved voluntarily to another team. When
Pete Rozelle ruled that Rams RB
Cullen Bryant must go to the Lions as compensation for losing Jessie, at Rosenbloom's behest, Bryant took the NFL to federal court. When the judge expressed his disbelief that "this type of servitude still existed", Rozelle backed down. Players were allowed to act on their own behalf as free agents from then on.