The out-of-the-blue Friday indictment of Eagles defensive end Michael Bennett raises an intriguing question regarding who knew what about the situation, which happened more than a year ago, before a grand jury decided to charge Bennett with a felony.
A source with knowledge of the situation had confirmed to PFT that the Seahawks, who traded Bennett to Philadelphia on March 13, claim they did not know about the incident before Friday. The Eagles presumably had no idea.
The bigger question is whether Bennett knew that an incident had occurred. Even if Bennett wasn’t arrested at the time he allegedly shoved an elderly woman at the conclusion of Super Bowl LI, the Personal Conduct Policy requires the player to report an incident even without an arrest.
“Clubs and players are obligated to promptly report any matter that comes to their attention (through, for example, victim or witness reports, law enforcement, or media reports) that may constitute a violation of this Policy,” the official policy states. “Failure to report an incident will be grounds for disciplinary action. This obligation to report is broader than simply reporting an arrest; it requires reporting to the league any incident that comes to the club’s or player’s attention which, if the allegations were true, would constitute a violation of the Personal Conduct Policy.”
If Bennett did indeed shove an elderly woman who was working at Super Bowl LI, Bennett necessarily knew that he’d done something that could violate the policy. The real question is whether he had any reason to believe he possibly would be in trouble for it. Unless he just kept moving without a single word or other utterance suggesting that there could be consequences for his conduct, Bennett possibly committed a separate violation of the policy by not letting the Seahawks or the league office know about it more than a year ago.
Now that the NFL has its own mechanism for investigating these incidents, it’s not enough to wait and see whether charges are eventually filed. The moment the player realizes that he could be under scrutiny for something he has done, he must let his team and/or the league know about it. Without that kind of candor, a player will be able -- as Bennett was -- to continue to practice and play without fear of discipline from the league office.
As a result, the NFL may launch two investigations regarding Bennett: One regarding the alleged incident from February 2017 and another regarding whether Bennett had any reason to believe formal allegations were being made against him as a result of it, before Friday.