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Ray Rice

Latest On Ray Rice Situation

September 25th, 2014 at 8:07pm CST by Zachary Links

A law enforcement official says that he sent the Ray Rice video to the attention of NFL security chief Jeffrey Miller, according to Rob Maaddi of The Associated Press. The official says Miller was sent the tape in April, though he doesn’t know if Miller ever saw the DVD or opened the package.

The law enforcement official’s only communication with the league was a 12-second voicemail on April 9th from league offices confirming receipt of the package, in which a woman says, “You’re right. It’s terrible.”

“Since the NFLPA and NFL have launched separate investigations into the league and the Ravens’ handling of Ray Rice’s case, I want to make a few things clear. No one from the NFL ever asked me for the inside-elevator video,” the official told the AP. “I mailed it anonymously to Jeff Miller because he’s their head of security. I attached a note saying: `Ray Rice elevator video. You have to see it. It’s terrible.’ I provided a number for a disposable cellphone and asked for confirmation that it was received. I knew there was a possibility Mr. Miller may not get the video, but I hoped it would land in the right hands.”

For his part, Miller has denied ever getting a copy of the tape.

“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,” he said in a statement issued through an NFL spokesman.

It remains unclear what happened to the video once it arrived at league offices. Maaddi notes that are two NFL executives named Jeffrey Miller, but the law enforcement official insisted the video was addressed to the chief of security. Despite Miller’s denial this evening, this story may turn up the heat on the league office and commissioner Roger Goodell.

NFL PR Notes: Goodell, Redskins, Incognito

September 24th, 2014 at 10:17pm CST by Rob DiRe

It seems that as of late the NFL has not been able to escape controversy. One thing after another has come up to humiliate and embarrass the league.

Here are a few notes surrounding some of the controversies the NFL has had to deal with:

  • Saints‘ All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees has been very critical of the way NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has reacted to recent transgressions made by players and team personnel. Much like the punishments the Saints were forced to endure after the bounty scandal, Brees sees the NFL’s abuse of power to be unfair, reports Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. “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.”
  • Former Ravens‘ running back Ray Rice has hired Peter Ginsberg as representation for his upcoming appeal, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Ginsberg had previously represented NFL players such as Pat Williams, Kevin Williams, and Jonathan Vilma in their suspension appeals with the league. Florio’s source feels that Ginsberg will push for Rice’s case to be heard by the September 30 deadline or the suspension be overturned.
  • The assistant district attorney in 49ers‘ defensive tackle Ray McDonald case is still without the official report, reports Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee (via Twitter). Without that report, chances are increased that the court date will have to be pushed back.
  • In the CBS Thursday Night Football commercials for the upcoming Giants versus the Redskins matchup, the word “Redskins” is conspicuously missing, reports Zac Boyer of the Washington Times. While big blue is referred to as “the Giants”, the Redskins are referred to as “Washington.”
  • Classic Comedy Central animated comedy South Park focused its season premiere on the Redskins’ name controversy. Timothy Burke of Deadspin.com has compiled highlights from the episode, that featured parodies of a number of NFL characters.
  • The Patriots‘ are having offensive line problems after trading All-Pro guard Logan Mankins, but they aren’t desperate enough to reach out to disgraced former Dolphin Richie Incognito, according to Andy Gresh on CSNNE.com. “He’s the ultimate last resort,” said Gresh. “There are other teams with o-line issues. He’s gotten a few calls, but no one has signed the guy yet. So I do think the temperature in the league might be a part of it. But he’s out there and no one has said, ‘I’ll deal with it because he’s a good enough player.'”

NFLPA Conducting Separate Rice Investigation

September 24th, 2014 at 11:33am CST by Luke Adams

As commissioner Roger Goodell discussed at his New York press conference last Friday, the NFL has hired former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead an investigation into the handling of the Ray Rice incident and subsequent suspension(s). However, that won’t be the only investigation being conducted into the matter. The NFLPA announced today that the union has retained former federal prosecutor Richard Craig Smith to complete its own investigation into the “due process, discipline, facts and conduct” by the NFL and Ravens that resulted in Rice’s indefinite suspension.

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to the separate investigations into the situation, as well as Rice’s appeal. According to the NFLPA’s statement, Smith’s investigation will “run parallel” to Rice’s appeal, which would typically be due for a hearing soon. However, a league source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that the NFL and NFLPA have either already agreed or will soon agree to postpone the appeal hearing beyond the September 30 deadline.

That delay on the appeal hearing should allow time for both investigations into the Rice situation to play out, and it shouldn’t have an adverse affect on the running back — even if he were to win an appeal soon, it’s extremely unlikely that he’ll be returning to an NFL field this season.

As for the NFLPA’s investigation, the union has requested the cooperation of both the NFL and the Ravens as Smith looks into the matter. Smith is part of the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, which also worked with the union on the Dolphins’ bullying scandal and on the Saints’ “bountygate,” tweets Darren Rovell of ESPN.com.

Ravens Issue Rebuttal To ESPN Report

September 22nd, 2014 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Ravens have issued a lengthy press release, in which various team officials, including owner Steve Bisciotti, respond to ESPN’s investigative report into the team’s handling of the Ray Rice situation. The release includes 15 excerpts from the ESPN story, accompanied by responses from the Ravens explaining their side of the story. You can read the full statement at their website, but here are a few of the notable points:

  • Based on Rice’s initial explanation of the incident to the Ravens, the team was under the impression that the running back slapped his then-fiancée with an open hand, rather than punching her. It wasn’t until the club saw the TMZ video that officials realized how violent the incident was.
  • Ravens director of security says the description of the elevator video he received from Atlantic City police suggested that “Janay appeared to initiate the altercation, but they both spit at and struck each other, resulting in Janay falling and hitting her head against the wall railing.”
  • Head coach John Harbaugh said he didn’t recommend releasing Rice back in February, as ESPN’s report suggests. “I was very disturbed by that [first] tape, and I told people that the facts should determine the consequences,” Harbaugh said. “When I saw the second videotape, I immediately felt that we needed to release Ray.”
  • Bisciotti, team president Dick Cass, and GM Ozzie Newsome all indicate they didn’t ask commissioner Roger Goodell to levy no more than a two-game suspension on Rice.
  • Cass admitted that the team didn’t continue to investigate the incident throughout the summer: “We decided that we would await the outcome of the criminal case and the NFL disciplinary hearing and to leave the fact-finding to others. We should not have done that.”
  • Bisciotti, addressing the idea that he was offering Rice a job with the team later in his career if he kept quiet about the Ravens’ handling of the incident: “I cannot believe that Ray ever thought I was suggesting he keep quiet, when he got the texts or later on. They were not an insult. To the contrary, I think he knew these were messages from the heart, as were his responses to me.”

On the heels of issuing this statement, Bisciotti also addressed reporters on the issue. In the view of the Baltimore owner, the sources for ESPN’s Outside the Lines report were predominantly connected to Rice — either his friends or people who work for or with him (Twitter link). Biscioitti added that he’s “very confident” that no one currently with the Ravens will lose their jobs over this incident (Twitter link).

Extra Points: Rice, Chancellor, Cards, Walker

September 22nd, 2014 at 2:11pm CST by Luke Adams

When the NFLPA filed an appeal of Ray Rice’s indefinite suspension on behalf of the running back, the union noted that Rice had the right to a hearing within 10 days. However, the NFLPA and Rice’s camp may be trying to postpone that process until after Robert Mueller completes his investigation into what the league did and didn’t know, according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports.

As Garafalo points out, it makes sense for Rice to want to wait until after the investigation concludes to move forward with his grievance, since it would only help his case if Mueller uncovered damning evidence against the league.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

  • Within Garafolo’s piece, the FOX Sports scribe also writes that Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor had been mulling a procedure to clean up bone spurs in his ankle, which would have sidelined him for several weeks. However, after his big game against the Broncos yesterday, Chancellor said that he felt “great,” and isn’t expected to miss any time.
  • Appearing on Arizona Sports 98.7 earlier today, Cardinals general manager Steve Keim indicated that his team is still on the lookout for help at outside linebacker, but that there aren’t many great options out there (Twitter link via Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic). The Cards are, of course, without John Abraham, who went on injured reserve last week.
  • Free agent guard Josh Walker, who was cut from the Colts’ practice squad last week, worked out for the Chiefs today and has an audition with the Packers up next, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun.
  • At Over The Cap, Jason Fitzgerald’s Week 3 list of players who boosted their stocks in key contract years is heavy on the NFC East — Fitzgerald names Nick Foles, Jeremy Maclin, and Dez Bryant as three players whose values are on the rise.

Ray Rice To Argue That TMZ Tape Was Edited

September 21st, 2014 at 11:50am CST by Rory Parks

Citing ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, ESPN.com news services staff report that, in his appeal of the indefinite suspension imposed by the NFL, Ray Rice will argue that the TMZ videotape that precipitated the suspension was edited and does not accurately represent what transpired in the Atlantic City casino elevator.

According to the ESPN article, “Legal sources told Schefter that the TMZ tape of Rice hitting his then-fiancee was a cleaned-up, whittled down and condensed version of the events…” Robert Mueller, whom the NFL appointed to investigate the handling of the Rice incident, will have access to the “extended version” (i.e. the version not edited by TMZ).

Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk confirms that a demonstration of the unedited tape will play a major role in Rice’s strategy.

Teams To Better Evaluate Player Conduct

September 20th, 2014 at 4:29pm CST by Rob DiRe

The player conduct policy getting some exercise these past few weeks, with the domestic violence cases dominating the news. The cases of Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Jonathan Dwyer, and Greg Hardy all resulted in the players making headlines and missing games.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attempted to address this in his press conference on Friday, but was undermined when the report by Don Van Natta Jr. and Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPN was published.

Still, the best way for teams to avoid the embarrassment that the Ravens, Vikings, Cardinals, and Panthers are now deservingly subject to is to do a better job in selecting and guiding players in the organization, writes Albert Breer of NFL.com. Of course, if it was easy to pick out the future criminals and troublemakers, teams would be doing so already.

“I don’t think you’ll find an NFL team that has not put an emphasis on character, and gathering the background to understand the full picture of a player,” one AFC personnel executive told Breer. “You may have risk guys. You’re gonna measure risk to a degree. But you’re also gonna have values and principles that, in some cases, will be unwavering. … I just don’t think there’s a blanket response (in how this will change things).”

Breer writes that we will not see whether this peak in incidents will influence how teams will change their approach until the calendar draws closer to the draft and free agency. It isn’t simply a question of when teams will start becoming more cautious, but if their decisions will be effected altogether.

“I’ll be honest, it will not change anything we do,” a veteran general manager said. “I hate to say it, but it’s not like we’re saying, ‘OK, from now on, we can’t have domestic violence.’ I think the players come into the league, they’re younger, and we have to develop them from boys to men. And so we spend a lot of energy here doing that.”

The process of bringing players into the organization will be equally important as the guidance they are able to provide for those players. With young men anywhere, the NFL included, a system of developing them into mature members of society needs to continue after college.

Even still, no matter how hard the teams try to bring in high character players, it is impossible to be perfect while building a team.

“You really don’t know,” an NFC executive said. “You really, really don’t know. You gotta do your homework, but there’s no telling exactly what you’re getting.”

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston is not playing this Saturday because of an off the field transgression that resulted in his suspension for the game against Clemson. Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report uses the Winston case as an example of the the effect the last two weeks in the NFL will have on player evaluations.

Winston won the Heisman Trophy last year for the national champion winning Seminoles, and as the reigning best player in college football, Winston and Florida State entered this weekend as the top ranked team in the country. Despite that, the most recent incident has caused many to drop Winston on their draft boards.

Freeman notes that draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN dropped Winston from third on his board down to the 25th best player available. His colleague Bill Polian, who formerly was the general manager of the Bills teams that made it to four consecutive Super Bowls and the Peyton Manning era Colts, was asked whether he would take Winston and replied “I don’t know.”

Freeman believes players like Winston will be used as a test case for the changing demeanor amongst NFL decision makers. It is unknown if the best player in college football will be drafted in the first round. There is a chance both Hardy and Rice are free agents this offseason, assuming they are not suspended. Peterson and Dwyer both could also be looking for new teams, depending on what the Vikings and Cardinals ultimately decide to do with them once their situations play out.

In time, it will be more clear whether player conduct becomes a more vital part of the evaluation process during the draft and free agency, and if that changes the climate of the NFL.

AFC North Notes: Gordon, Richardson, Rice

September 20th, 2014 at 2:02pm CST by Rob DiRe

Josh Gordon recently had his season-long ban reduced to ten games, and both he and the team are grateful of the new ruling, writes Pat McManamon of ESPN.com.

Browns‘ general manager Ray Farmer released a statement:

“We are aware of the new NFL policy related to the reduction of Josh Gordon’s suspension to 10 games. We will continue to support and work with him under the NFL guidelines throughout this process. Our team’s focus right now remains on preparing for Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens.”

Gordon also released a statement through the NFLPA:

“I”m happy that the NFLPA and NFL worked hard to agree on a new Substances of Abuse policy. I”m very thankful to my union for fighting for a significant reduction in my suspension. I”m glad I can go to the facility during my suspension. I look forward to going to meetings, working out individually, and learning from my coaches and teammates. I can”t wait until game 11 to get back on the field!”

Here are some other notes from around the AFC North:

  • Yesterday, the Colts were lamenting the long term effects of the Trent Richardson trade. The Browns, on the other hand, are reaping the benefits, writes Tom Reed of Cleveland.com. Just one year later, the Browns, while not perfect, are progressing as an organization, highlighted by last week’s win over the Saints. The 0-2 Colts have a top heavy roster that seems to be crumbling around Andrew Luck, and while they ran the ball well against the Eagles last week, Richardson fumbled twice.
  • Ravens‘ linebacker Courtney Upshaw was fined $16,537 for a hit he put on Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger last Thursday, writes Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. Upshaw will appeal the fine.
  • The Ravens have already denied the accuracy of the report on how the team and the NFL handled the domestic violence case against Ray Rice, and ESPN did trip over itself in reporting incident. Bob Ley of Outside the Lines misreported that the team had actually received a copy of the tape, and then backtracked to say they had received an account of what transpired. This hurts the overall credibility of the report, writes David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun.

John Harbaugh Wanted To Release Ray Rice

September 19th, 2014 at 5:22pm CST by Rob DiRe

Since February, information about the Ray Rice domestic abuse case has come out, little by little. When the story first broke and the first video was released, Rice was suspended for two games, but the Ravens stood behind him as an organization.

However, it now seems like head coach John Harbaugh wanted the team to terminate Rice’s contract at that point, when the first reports came out. This is according to an investigative report by Don Van Natta Jr. and Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPN. The Ravens have denied this report, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.

As the second video surfaced on TMZ, Rice was then cut by the Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL. In the ESPN report, the Ravens are purported to have had knowledge of the video inside the elevator within hours of the incident. Director of Security for the team, Darren Sanders spoke to an Atlantic City police officer over the phone shortly after it happened. The officer described the video in detail, and the Ravens knew the severity of the issue the same night.

Reports earlier this month told the story that the NFL had never reached out to the casino for the second video tape. The ESPN report states that the Ravens knew everything in February.

Here is an excerpt of the report, that is damning to the Ravens’ front office, Roger Goodell, and the NFL:

After the Feb. 15 incident in the casino elevator, Ravens executives — in particular owner Steve Bisciotti, president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome — began extensive public and private campaigns pushing for leniency for Rice on several fronts: from the judicial system in Atlantic County, where Rice faced assault charges, to commissioner Goodell, who ultimately would decide the number of games Rice would be suspended from this fall, to within their own building, where some were arguing immediately after the incident that Rice should be released.

The Ravens also consulted frequently with Rice’s Philadelphia defense attorney, Michael J. Diamondstein, who in early April had obtained a copy of the inside-elevator video and told Cass: “It’s f—ing horrible.” Cass did not request a copy of the video from Diamondstein but instead began urging Rice’s legal team to get Rice accepted into a pretrial intervention program after being told some of the program’s benefits. Among them: It would keep the inside-elevator video from becoming public.

For its part, the NFL — which in other player discipline cases has been able to obtain information that’s been sealed by court order — 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 Goodell gave Rice — the corporate face of the Baltimore franchise — a light punishment as a favor to his good friend Bisciotti. Four sources said Ravens executives, including Bisciotti, Cass and 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.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who gained a reputation for coming down hard on player conduct early in his tenure, may have been lenient on Rice by failing to pursue the proper evidence. He has excused himself from the appeal of Rice’s case, and ordered an investigation of the NFL’s procedure of dealing with this situation.

Bisciotti also reportedly texted Rice after releasing him that the owner would have a front office job waiting for his All-Pro running back when his NFL career was over. At the same time, the Ravens’ front office was claiming that Rice lied about what happened inside the elevator.

Since the ESPN report came out, questions of those key members of the team’s front office status going forward. Cass and Sanders have already had their jobs called for by fans and sportswriters on Twitter, and Bisciotti’s ownership has been questioned as well.

Extra Points: Green-Ellis, Rice, Bengals, Bucs

September 17th, 2014 at 1:51pm CST by Luke Adams

A few NFL teams are starting to see their backfields thin out a little as the season progresses, whether due to suspensions (Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson) or injuries (Mark Ingram, Jamaal Charles, Knowshon Moreno, and others). While most of those clubs have relied on in-house replacements so far, veteran free agent BenJarvus Green-Ellis has received some inquiries from teams, reports Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (via Twitter).

According to La Canfora (via Twitter), the former Bengal, who is coming off a preseason hip injury, continues to rehab and work toward full health. When he’s ready to play, Green-Ellis should be able to find a job, since there are plenty of potential suitors monitoring him now.

Here are a few more Wednesday odds and ends from around the NFL:

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