NFL could suspend 4 players over PED probe

The December report by Al Jazeera alluded to Manning taking HGH to recover from neck surgery. The league has cleared Manning of all the charges.

Seriously. The NFL is trying to use their unlimited player discipline power granted to them by Article 46 of the NFL’s CBA to compel players to do an interview that would possibly incriminate themselves because they don’t have enough evidence against them on their own.

That would open the door for Goodell to call in any player he wanted to harass about anything the league wanted based on the slightest innuendo. The NFL told the NFLPA Monday that those players have until August 25 to give interviews regarding their involvement in the Al Jazeera report that linked them to PED use.

Any suspension will remain in effect until the players meet with league investigators and then Commissioner Roger Goodell will decide whether to lift any disciplinary action.

The NFLPA has previously stated that affidavits submitted by the four players in July constituted reasonable cooperation, but the league has since said that wasn’t acceptable.

The four players did submit sworn affidavits, but the league asserts the statements were “wholly devoid of details” and the league accused Neal of lying in his affidavit, saying a statement in Neal’s affidavit “is demonstrably false”.

Neal is a free agent, but the other players have a lot riding on their decision to interview.

Any potential suspension would hit the Packers the hardest since Matthew and Peppers both play for Green Bay.

Harrison, who has spent all but one of his 13 seasons with the Steelers, had one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history, returning an interception 100 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the half in Super Bowl XLII.

The Steelers linebacker tried to fix the situation in June when he agree to be interviewed, but only under certain conditions.

Head coach Mike Tomlin said he won’t advise Harrison on the matter.

There is no dispute that players are obligated to cooperate with the league’s investigation, as you have repeatedly acknowledged. “They are going to suspend me, put me under investigation for being a pedophile just because somebody said it?”

The league says the players’ union has thwarted seven attempts to interview the veterans named in The Dark Side: The Secret World of Sports Doping.

“On each occasion, the NFLPA has communicated the players’ refusal to participate”, Birch wrote in the letter.

“I don’t have a problem doing the interview”.

The suspensions would begin August 26, according to the letter.

The initial letter from Neal said he had never violated the policy of the league for PED’s, but he has been suspended for a prior infraction in 2012.

Or Harrison can refuse to be interviewed and be suspended indefinitely. “You’d rather have those players than not”.