Peyton Manning’s good news could be the NFLPA’s misfortune in the ongoing NFL investigation into HGH use by players named in an Al Jazeera report last fall.
Jason Cole of Bleacher Report passed along some information Monday following the NFL’s exoneration of Manning that indicates his cooperation with the league will actually put pressure on Green Bay Packers linebackers Julius Peppers, Mike Neal and Clay Matthews and Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison to follow suit.
The NFL released a statement after clearing Manning that made it clear it would continue to press for interviews on the three others named in the report.
Cole reports that in addition to the pressure Manning’s cooperation puts on the other players named, it also damages the NFLPA’s argument that the NFL didn’t have any credibility to investigate the claims to begin with.
This is why the NFLPA urged Manning not to cooperate to begin with (more on that here).
The interesting thing here is that all the players named in the report have denied taking PEDs (performance enhancing drugs). Mike McCarthy recently said he does not see any reason to worry about the allegations surrounding his players, and James Harrison has been vocal about being clean as well.
But this fight is more about the NFL’s powers over the players than it is about whether or not they broke the rules. With this in mind, it’s going to be interesting to watch things unfold.