Even though the Buccaneers ultimately gave quarterback Josh Freeman what he wanted, the NFLPA continues to want answers.
Per a league source, the union still wants to get to the bottom of the manner in which a stream of negative reports about Freeman bubbled to the surface over the past month.
It won’t be easy. While there’s scuttlebutt that some members of the Tampa media may have text messages that would potentially trace back to the Buccaneers, good luck getting anyone in the media to give up their sources.
It all started, as best we can tell, on the heels of the report that the team held a players-only meeting to air out concerns regarding coach Greg Schiano. While news of Freeman missing the team photo may have initially been posted on a message board, it was ignored until news emerged that one of the concerns related to the legitimacy of the captain vote.
The Buccaneers continue to insist, publicly and privately, that they leaked nothing. But with some of the rumors that circulated about Freeman being incredibly serious and sensitive, it would make no sense for Freeman or his camp to be the source of the chatter. (The rumors were and are untrue.)
And so the NFLPA will continue to push for more information. It’ll be interesting to see whether the NFL does the same, and whether the league will cooperate with the union to try to determine who leaked the information about Freeman, and what will be done to hold those responsible (if any) accountable.