The NFL has confirmed that Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston is being investigated after an Uber driver accused him of groping her crotch. Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby has said he was in the car with Winston and the driver. So does that mean the NFL is investigating Darby as well?
The league isn’t saying. NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said today that the league has no comment on whether Darby is under investigation, other than to say Winston and Darby have not been placed on the commissioner’s exempt list.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Lockhart said. “We received some information, an allegation, that generated from uber and a ride a couple of years ago. I’d say that this case does not rise to the level of the commissioner’s exempt list and that’s why the player or players are not on it.”
So what would it take to have Winston and Darby placed on the commissioner’s exempt list, as Greg Hardy and Josh Brown were when accused of violence against women?
“The commissioner’s exempt list is used in some occasions when a player is formally charged with a crime of violence,” Lockhart said. “This is a case where we have one report that we’re following up on and at this point that’s all we have to say beyond that we don’t think this meets the criteria to be on the commissioner’s exempt list at this point.”
Darby and Winston were teammates at Florida State. Darby was in the apartment where a Florida State student said Winston raped her in 2012.