Legal - Football Wiretap

NFL Warns Teams On Training Camp Concussions

Jun 29, 2018 5:39 PM

The NFL has warned teams that 11-on-11 training camp drills were responsible for last year's spike in preseason concussions.

The league has stopped short of banning full-squad drills, which coaches consider essential to preparing for the contact that occurs during regular-season games. But NFL data showed that preseason concussions in 2017 increased by 73 percent, from 26 in 2016 to 45.

Jeff Miller, the NFL's executive vice president of health and safety initiatives, said Friday that he hopes the data "will inform what clubs do" when camps open. Miller said the league hopes to replicate its success in addressing a similar issue after the 2014 season. In 2015, camp concussions dropped by 33 percent.

"We didn't have a level and specificity of data then," Miller said, "but we went through a process led by our football operations to inform teams and talk to them and say, 'Hey, we noticed this data.' We brought it to their attention, and there was an effort by many of them to address the question. And we saw a drop the following year.

"Raising the consciousness level of that issue was definitely worthwhile. I don't want to take full credit for that decrease, but I think it informed what clubs did."

Kevin Seifert/ESPN

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Janoris Jenkins' Brother Charged In Death

Jun 28, 2018 8:09 AM

William Jenkins, the older brother of New York Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins, has been charged with aggravated manslaughter after a body was found at the player's house in New Jersey.

The body was identified as Roosevelt Rene, 25, a family friend who had been living at the house.

William Jenkins was arrested on drug charges in 2006 and again in 2011. He was paroled from prison in July 2016, according to New York state department of corrections records.

Janoris Jenkins was not at home when the body was discovered and has been in Florida since the completion of Giants minicamp two weeks ago.

ESPN

Tags: New York Giants, Legal, Misc Rumor

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Autopsy Shows 21-Year-Old Tyler Hilinski Had CTE

Jun 26, 2018 2:23 PM

The parents of Tyler Hilinski say an autopsy following his January suicide showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in his brain.

Tyler was quarterback of Washington State and committed suicide by gunshot on Jan. 16.

"Did football kill Tyler? I don't think so," Kym Hilinski said in a Sports Illustrated documentary about Tyler's life. "Did he get CTE from [playing] football? Probably. Was that the only thing that contributed to his death? I don't know."

Mark Hilinski told "Today" that the medical examiner determined Tyler "had the brain of a 65-year-old, which is really hard to take." 

Mark and Kym Hilinski have spoken to their younger son, Ryan, a high school quarterback committed to play at South Carolina in 2019, about the results of Tyler's autopsy. Ryan Hilinski told Sports Illustrated that while the information "scared me a little bit," he intends to continue playing.

Adam Rittenberg/ESPN

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Martavis Bryant Hasn't Failed Or Missed Drug Test

Jun 21, 2018 3:17 PM

Martavis Bryant has not missed or failed a drug test.

The Raiders declined comment but “fear potential NFL discipline” for Bryant for a situation “believed to pertain to the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.”

Bryant has missed more games due to failed drug tests (20) than he has started in his four-year NFL career. 

The Oakland Raiders acquired Bryant this offseason.

Vic Tafur/The Athletic

Tags: Las Vegas Raiders, Legal, Suspension

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Al Jazeera Claims Peyton Manning 'Confirmed' Doping Allegations

Jun 2, 2018 10:10 AM

Al Jazeera America claims Peyton Manning "confirmed" much of the doping allegations made against him by its primary source.

The report cited the word of Charlie Sly, who the network indicated was a pharmacist who had worked at the Guyer Institute in Indianapolis.

According to memorandums from Al Jazeera, reporter Deborah Davies contacted Manning's CAA agent Tom Condon before the documentary aired to get comment on something that Sly had been recorded saying. Specifically, Sly stated, "I did part of my training at the Guyer Institute which is like this anti-aging clinic in Indiana. [Peyton Manning] and his wife would come in after hours and get IVs and s***. ... So one thing that Guyer does is he dispenses drugs out of his office, which physicians can do in the United States it’s just not very many of them do it. ... And all the time we would be sending [wife] Ashley Manning drugs. Like growth hormone, all the time, everywhere, Florida. And it would never be under Peyton’s name, it would always be under her name. ... We were sending it everywhere."

Manning reacted strongly when the documentary came out by calling it a "total fabrication" and even was reportedly considering his own defamation lawsuit at one point, Al Jazeera has more to say.

"Plaintiffs contend that the Documentary should not have been broadcast because they have never used PES of any kind, and because, after learning his PES peddling was about to be aired, Sly created a short, homemade video in which he recanted every word he had ever said to Al Jazeera’s undercover reporter," states Al Jazeera's court brief. "Sly’s recantation rang hollow. As explained in Defendants’ Motion to Compel against Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Sly’s last-minute denials followed a visit to his family’s home by investigators hired by lawyers for National Football League player Peyton Manning ... which prompted Sly’s sister to call 911. On the video, Sly appeared to be reading a statement that was prepared for him while sweating profusely, and his statements about Liam Collins’ character were clearly based on information that had been supplied to Sly. On top of that, the Mannings (through counsel) had already corroborated Sly’s most explosive claims, making his denials all the less believable."

Manning's spokesperson made a statement in response:

"Al Jazeera’s self-serving claim that Peyton Manning’s attorneys 'confirmed' Al Jazeera’s allegations about Peyton Manning is absolutely false. In fact, information was provided to Al Jazeera that confirmed the Al Jazeera allegations about Peyton Manning were unfounded. In addition, the sole source for Al Jazeera’s allegations has publicly recanted them. Moreover, the NFL conducted an extensive investigation of the claims raised in Al Jazeera’s programs and found no evidence to support them. This is a desperate move by Al Jazeera to distract the courts from its own wrongdoing."

Eriq Gardner/Hollywood Reporter

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