There have been several reports about prospective 2014 draftees failing drug tests at the combine in February, something that seems to happen every year and makes you wonder how hard anyone is working to keep supposedly confidential information from becoming public knowledge.
NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said Wednesday that there is “obviously a lack of appropriate attention” to keeping the information private. While the prospective draftees are not yet members of the union, Smith said that the NFLPA is considering civil, regulatory and CBA responses to the continued leaks.
“We are going to be taking a look at a number of actions we can take as the union to protect players in those situations,” Smith said. “If anyone from a team level is releasing information that could be considered confidential, subject to HIPAA or collected under the belief that it is confidential, we are going to take steps.”
Smith suggested those steps could be taken against the people running the combine, team officials and media members who pass along the information.
During the discussion about combine leaks, Smith also fielded a question about the status of the investigation into leaks about quarterback Josh Freeman as he parted ways with the Buccaneers. Smith said that the interviews, conducted in cooperation with the NFL, have concluded and that the league would likely release it’s position on their findings in the next couple of weeks.
“I remain and our union remains concerned about the roles of team employees who may have been involved in those statements or leaks,” Smith said.
The combine leaks are an annual event and they engender a similar response every year from the NFLPA. It’s hard to see that cycle changing without talk of action against alleged leakers being replaced by actual action.