New data from the nation’s largest brain bank focused on traumatic brain injury has found evidence of a degenerative brain disease in 76 of the 79 former NFL players it’s examined.

The findings represent a more than twofold increase in the number of cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, that have been reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ brain repository in Bedford, Mass.

Players represented in the data represent a skewed population.

Nonetheless, Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the brain bank, believes the findings suggest a clear link between football and traumatic brain injury.

“Obviously this high percentage of living individuals is not suffering from CTE,” said McKee, a neuropathologist who directs the brain bank as part of a collaboration between the VA and Boston University’s CTE Center. But “playing football, and the higher the level you play football and the longer you play football, the higher your risk.”

An NFL spokesman did not respond to several requests for comment.

Jovan Belcher showed signs of pervasive brain damage like that found in other deceased NFL players, according to a neuropathologist.

Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend in 2012 before committing suicide.

In a report obtained by "Outside the Lines," Dr. Piotr Kozlowski writes that he detected neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein, which is identified with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The tangles were distributed throughout Belcher's hippocampus, an area of the brain involved with memory, learning and emotion.

Dozens of former NFL players have been diagnosed posthumously with CTE, a neurodegenerative disease linked to dementia, memory loss and depression. The disease, researchers say, is triggered by repeated head trauma.

Belcher's body was exhumed one year after his death, and his brain was examined two weeks later.

If it can be shown that Belcher did have CTE, Belcher's daughter and mother, together, would be eligible for up to $4 million under the proposed concussion settlement between the NFL and former players.

The NFL on Friday said it had no evidence the Ray Rice elevator tape was ever sent to its offices or received by them, or that a call was made by a woman, from league lines, confirming delivery of the tape.

A league official e-mailed reporters, including ESPN's Adam Schefter, in response to an Associated Press story Thursday night about a law enforcement official saying he mailed a tape of the Rice incident to Jeffrey Miller, the NFL's senior vice president of security.

"Our office has found absolutely no evidence to support the claim of the anonymous 'law enforcement source' that he sent a video to the NFL office or that he received a telephone call to his 'disposable cell phone' from an unidentified female using an NFL line," the league said.

Miller responded Thursday night in a statement, saying: "I unequivocally deny that I received at any time a copy of the video and I had not watched it until it was made public on September 8."

The NFL has repeatedly said no one with the league saw the violent images until TMZ Sports released the video earlier this month.

A law enforcement official tells the Associated Press that he sent video of Ray Rice to the attention of NFL security chief Jeffrey Miller.

The NFL has denied receiving video of Rice striking his then-fiance in an elevator, which was eventually obtained by TMZ after one phone call.

Miller unequivocally denied that he had ever watched or received the video, and the NFL has said no league employee saw it until TMZ Sports released the video earlier this month.

The official said he doesn't know if Miller ever saw the DVD. His only communication with the NFL was a voicemail from an unidentified woman from league offices confirming receipt of the package.

“I unequivocally deny I received at any time a copy of the video," said Miller in a statement. "I had not watched it until it was made public”

Ray Rice's appeal will likely be postponed until after Robert Mueller completes his investigation into the NFL's pursuit and handling of evidence in his domestic violence incident.

Per the collective bargaining agreement, a hearing date must be set within 10 days of the notice of Rice's appeal, which was filed Sept. 16. If both sides agree to delay a healing, though, the process can be moved back.  

Rice was initially suspended two games for a domestic violence incident involving his then-fiancee at an Atlantic City casino in February. The suspension became indefinite last week after TMZ posted a video that showed Rice striking Janay Rice.

Drew Brees voiced criticism of Roger Goodell's unilateral powers on disciplinary issues.

Brees said he hopes the NFL's latest controversies will finally lead to a new disciplinary system that is fair, transparent and includes the NFL Players Association and independent experts instead of the "unilateral" system that has been in place with "no checks and balances."

"Too many times, I'd say especially over the last few years, a punishment's been handed down and nobody has really seen the evidence except for those in the league office - supposedly," Brees said. "So decisions were made in kind of a, 'Hey, trust us.' But did the public see any of the facts? Did the accused see any of the facts? In most cases, no."

The NFL had no checks and balances in the suspensions of Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis.

"That's why you have multiple parties to make sure everyone comes together, cooler heads prevail. The decision isn't just based on emotion at the time, which I can say I believe has happened in the past in regards to commissioner discipline. It's been based upon emotion as opposed to maybe the facts," Brees said. "And (a new disciplinary policy would) prevent that from ever happening again."

The NFL believes the Oakland Raiders could generate $2 billion or more if sold and selling the team reamins the most likely path for a move to Los Angeles.

The NFL will be careful about who gets the Los Angeles market and Mark Davis has limitations in real estate, marketing and overall business expertise.

Convincing Davis to sell the team to one of the NFL's short-list of owners-in-waiting, headlined by Larry Ellison, would be one way to get a team back to Los Angeles.

"Outside the Lines" interviewed more than 20 sources over the past 11 days -- team officials, current and former league officials, NFL Players Association representatives and associates, advisers and friends of Ray Rice -- and found a pattern of misinformation and misdirection employed by the Ravens and the NFL since he assaulted Janay Rice in an Atlantic City elevator.

The NFL took an uncharacteristically passive approach when it came to gathering evidence, opening itself up to widespread criticism, allegations of inconsistent approaches to player discipline and questions about whether Roger Goodell gave Rice -- the corporate face of the Baltimore franchise -- a light punishment as a favor to his good friend Steve Bisciotti. Four sources said Ravens executives, including Bisciotti and Ozzie Newsome, urged Goodell and other league executives to give Rice no more than a two-game suspension, and that's what Goodell did on July 24.

Goodell has been committed to player discipline, but did not immediately act when he learned verbally or visually of Rice's actions.

Within hours of the elevator attack, an employee of the Ravens was describing the inside-elevator video to friends in graphic detail, telling confidants that Rice knocked out his then-fiancée with a punch and that the video was "really bad," according to a source close to a Ravens official.

John Harbaugh urged the Ravens to release Rice immediately, according to sources.

Roger Goodell said Friday that there have been too many examples of late of the NFL "doing wrong" and "that starts with me."

Goodell made his first public comments since Sept. 10, and in them vowed that the league would "get our house in order first" and that he would work to earn back the trust of fans in the face of increasing criticism that the league has not acted quickly or emphatically enough concerning the domestic abuse cases.

The commissioner also said the league would implement a new personal conduct policy with the goal of finalizing it before the Super Bowl in February. He also said he would establish a "conduct committee" to ensure that the new policies and practices are followed.

Greg Hardy has been placed on the exempt list.

Hardy was conviced in a bench trial of two counts of domestic violence and the case is under appeal. Hardy will not be allowed to play until the case is resolved and a suspension will be forthcoming thereafter.

Hardy is one of the NFL's best pass rusher.