It’s not clear what the NFL had done before Friday to investigate the February incident at a Cleveland hotel involving now-former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt. Based on a new report from ESPN, it’s clear what the NFL didn’t do.
Per Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter of ESPN, the NFL did not interview Hunt.
The league also did not interview the alleged victim, claiming that she did not respond to efforts to contact her. While it’s unclear how aggressive those efforts were (and there’s a big difference between calling her cell phone and showing up at her door), it’s clear that the league wouldn’t have to ask more than once to get access to Hunt.
The circumstances cried out for a sit-down with Hunt. As reported by Nate Taylor of TheAthletic.com, Hunt repeatedly told the Chiefs that he didn’t even leave the hotel room. So why not lock the story in from the league office’s perspective and then confirm, or debunk, it by talking to other witnesses -- regardless of whether the league could or couldn’t have gotten the video? If Hunt says he didn’t leave the hotel room and others say he did, the league would have been justified to conclude that Hunt likewise did whatever the alleged victim claims he did.
The ESPN report contributes to a fair conclusion that the NFL simply decided not to create its own P.R. problem by making a big deal out of something that by all appearances had fizzled out. And the approach would have worked, if someone hadn’t given/sold/whatever the video to TMZ.