Buccaneers cornerback Aqib Talib and Titans receiver Kenny Britt will both be called before NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell this week, as Goodell determines whether to discipline them for violations of the NFL’s personal-conduct policy.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Talib is scheduled to meet with Goodell at the league office in New York on Tuesday, and Britt will be there either Tuesday or Wednesday.
One league source told Schefter the players could be in line for “lengthy” suspensions.
Talib is scheduled to go on trial in 2012 on charges that he shot a gun at his sister’s ex-boyfriend. Talib’s lawyers are urging the NFL to give him the presumption of innocence, but the league’s stance in recent years has been that the presumption of innocence is something a defendant gets in the court of law, not in the court of Goodell.
Britt had multiple run-ins with the law this spring and summer and became the poster boy for problem behavior during the lockout. His next court date is September 20, but Goodell might not wait to see how the court rules before he issues his own ruling.
You could make a very strong case that players shouldn’t be subject to league discipline for activities that occurred during the lockout. But when the lockout ended, Goodell retained the right to decide for himself what kind of discipline to hand out for off-field activities. And so Talib and Britt may be in trouble with the NFL for things they did at a time when the NFL was locking them out.