Battle Between NFL and Players over Al Jazeera Report Is About Power, Not PEDs

This week, the NFL Players Association sent a letter to the league's top lawyer over the Al Jazeera report about PEDs in the NFL that aired last December. You remember that report, don't you? It's OK if you don't. Everyone's forgotten.

First, let's discuss the letter. It was sent in response to the NFL wanting to interview four of the players named in the report. The union countered by raising its hand, turning the palm facing inward, and extending one of the fingers—the middle one.

Take note of the end:

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Especially in a business where the mere mention of a player-employee's name can generate ratings for a broadcaster, the NFLPA and [James] Harrison do not believe that unsupported, unsubstantiated verbal remarks provide 'sufficient credible evidence' to initiate an investigation of, and require an interview with, an employee.

"

Well, damn. OK then.

The "broadcaster" and "ratings" stuff is silly. It's not like Chris Berman is sitting there rubbing his hands together, North Korean dictator style, salivating at the chance to lead his NFL roundup with an Al Jazeera story.

But the point about evidence is fair.

An NFL source familiar with the league's investigation called the letter "laughable." The source added: "We are damned if we do and damned if we don't. If we don't investigate, people would say we ignored the story. If we do investigate, they say we are heavy-handed."

This, too, is a fair point.

Before we dig into the report and the investigation, we need to talk about the big picture, and it's this: The union and league aren't fighting over the Al Jazeera report. They are fighting over power. The players and the league have battled over power for decades. In many ways, this is the very nature of the union-management dynamic.

But during the tenure of commissioner Roger Goodell, this dynamic has entered into a realm previously unseen in league history, except for the strike and lockout years. Now the two sides are doing everything except punching each other in the face.

Bob Leverone/Associated Press

This investigation, in many ways, is Deflategate II. Tom Brady and the union saw Brady's punishment as Goodell using his power arbitrarily and applying different standards of punishment based on fan and media outrage. The union sees the league's attempt to interview players named in the Al Jazeera report as the same thing—an abuse of power. 

Let's go back in time, without violating the temporal prime directive, and travel to December. That was when Al Jazeera aired a blockbuster story in which Liam Collins, a British sprinter, went undercover to show how performance-enhancing drug use by athletes was not just common, but easy to do. The names that emerged from the report were Steelers linebacker James Harrison, Packers defensive players Clay Matthews, Mike Neal and Julius Peppers, former tight end Dustin Keller and future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. All players vehemently denied the allegations, with Manning doing so in the most vocal manner, saying he was "furious" and "disgusted" at the report.

Baseball players Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman also were named in the documentary. Both sued Al Jazeera for libel.

The primary source of the allegations was Charlie Sly, a supplement salesman whom Collins recorded without Sly's permission. He spoke extensively about supplying PEDs to a number of NFL players, including Manning. Sly said he worked with Manning at an anti-aging clinic in Indianapolis called the Guyer Institute while Manning was recovering from neck surgery in 2011. He also stated the institute mailed human growth hormone to Manning's wife, Ashley. It is important to note that Sly later disavowed what he was recorded saying.

Manning was obviously the money name. Even though HGH use in the NFL wasn't illegal until recently, the notion that one of the league's eternal stars was doped up was a huge story. In some ways, the report put a portion of Manning's legacy at stake.

The NFL said it would conduct an extensive investigation, and according to multiple sources, that is exactly what has been happening. As part of the league's investigation, it sent the previously referenced letters to all of the NFL players named. The letter that leaked this week was the one to Harrison, but all of the letters to the different players were the same, according to an ESPN report.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

That brings us to now. The NFL has its position, and the union has its ground. It's a good, old-fashioned stalemate.

Certainly, the NFL is taking this investigation seriously. The league genuinely feels—and I believe the league on this—it's important to find what, if anything, happened.

They want to know a simple truth: Is anything Al Jazeera reported true? And if it is, how widespread is something like this in football? The NFL wants PEDs out of the sport and sees this as an opportunity to do so—if that is indeed what's happening here.

But the players see this as something different, as Tiki Barber summarized on his CBS Sports Radio program:

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Is [there] enough evidence for the league to go after James Harrison and Clay Matthews and some of these other guys? I would say not. And why is this important? Because it shows that the NFL, maybe they think they're right, maybe they feel like they're doing the right thing, but they're stomping all over the rights of players—collectively bargained, union employees. That's where this crosses with Deflategate. ... Tom Brady gets accused [of wrongdoing], and then it gets misreported and starts Deflategate, which is going on two years later. ...

You can't trample rights of employees. I don't care who you are or what the collective bargaining says you can do. ... The NFL is taking another step out of bounds on their power. I don’t know where it goes. I don't know what the solution is. I don’t know what the reasoning behind this is. But players better be wary. And instead of getting up there on draft day and hugging Roger Goodell, realize that he will cut your throat in a heartbeat if he even suspects you have one inkling of malfeasance in your world. It's not right.

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The NFL officially responded Thursday to the union. In a letter obtained by USA Today, the league said the Al Jazeera report was enough to warrant an investigation. Back and forth we go. 

The crux of this battle is the horrid relationship between the union and league. To the NFL's way of thinking, it is seeking the truth. To the union, this is another example of the NFL abusing its authority, going on fishing expeditions with no proof anything really happened other than a guy saying something he later recanted.

The union's skepticism is understandable. The league wanting to know what really happened is understandable. And here we are.

Multiple league sources say they believe eventually a sit-down with the players will happen. But who knows? The union, based on its response to the league, wants to see more proof before it allows the players to talk.

But with trust so minimal—and by minimal, I mean there is none—it may take a bit for the league to speak with the players. They may never speak to the players.

The two sides can't even discuss relatively small stuff in a substantive manner. When Mark Murphy, president of the Packers, suggested the league should add a 17th game so each team could play one game internationally and not give up a home contest, NFLPA assistant executive director of external affairs George Atallah tweeted a sarcastic (and funny) series of responses.

The Al Jazeera story has been forgotten in some ways, but what it represents beyond the lurid allegations of HGH use is fairly vital.

It's about this: Can the NFL and union ever reach common ground on anything? Or will both sides remain in an eternal state of combat?

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @mikefreemanNFL.