Though most of his time of late has been devoted to cleaning up the legal mess created by a five-foot bathroom in a Milledgeville, Georgia nightclub, sports lawyer and NFLPA Executive Director finalist David Cornwell has noticed that the positive drug tests from the Scouting Combine have been leaked to the media.
And Cornwell doesn’t like it.
“It is outrageous that nobody is outraged that Combine drug test results were leaked again his year,” Cornwell said via e-mail. “It is almost cruel that [Georgia Tech running back] Jonathan Dwyer has to endure public discussion about private medical information. This is not a case where there are multiple, potential sources for the leak. The Combine drug test results are released to NFL teams only. Therefore, it is beyond reasonable doubt that the results were leaked by an NFL team. If teams cannot limit the use of confidential information to its intended purpose -- to inform internal draft decisions-- then the NFL should stop testing draft eligible players.”
As reported by FOX last night, Dwyer and USC tight end Anthony McCoy tested positive. Dwyer tested positive for a prescription medication; McCoy tested positive for marijuana.
And Cornwell is right. Though we don’t fault Alex Marvez and Jay Glazer for reporting information to which they became privy, it’s our understanding that the data is given to one person per team. The StarCaps case features an allegation that the league leaked, to Glazer among others, information regarding the positive drug tests of Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams. The StarCaps case currently is awaiting a post-trial ruling from Judge Gary Larson. The mere fact that the Scouting Combine drug results were leaked by a team to the media is the kind of thing that could prompt Larson to conclude that the league will truly tighten up these leaks only after being forced to write a large check.
UPDATE: This could be, ultimately, a “no harm, no foul” situation. A league source points out that the agents for Dwyer and McCoy have been “doing damage control since before the teams got the results.” Though that doesn’t excuse a team from leaking the list to the media, it definitely cuts against the notion that Dwyer and McCoy have been wronged in some way.