Adrian Peterson Appeal: Part Of Vincent's Testimony Released

Per Chris Mortensen of ESPN, some of the transcript of Troy Vincent's testimony at the Adrian Peterson appeal hearing has been released and. . .well, if this is accurate, it appears as though Vincent may have screwed up in a pretty significant way.

From the article on Bloomberg Sports:

"So remember this, A.P., you're not, today, you are not subject to the, to the new Personal Conduct Policy," Vincent told Peterson during a telephone conversation, according to the transcript of the hearing. A copy of the transcript was obtained by Bloomberg News. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an e-mail that Vincent would not comment.

. . .

Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for Peterson, asked Vincent: "My question is you were telling him he was not subject to the new Personal Conduct Policy; is that right?"

Vincent responded yes. Asked how he knew, Vincent said, "I was just taking that based off when his crime was committed."

Said Kessler: "Your understanding as the Executive Vice President of the National Football League, in your position, was that the new Personal Conduct Policy would only apply going forward, correct, not the past behavior?"

"Correct," Vincent testified before arbitrator Harold Henderson, who spent 16 years at the NFL overseeing player and labor relations.

"And that is what you were conveying to Adrian?" asked Kessler.

"Yes," Vincent said.

The article later says that Vincent testified that he was not responsible for interpreting the Personal Conduct Policy for the league. . .which sort of begs the question of why he was telling Peterson these things in the first place.

It appears to be just another thing that points to the National Football League making things up on the fly in regards to this case. As far as I can tell. . .from the outside, mind you. . .it appears that Vincent told Peterson that he wouldn't be subject to the league's new Personal Conduct Policy in the hopes that Peterson would take some sort of deal to resolve his legal case, which would allow Roger Goodell and the National Football League to drop the hammer on Peterson and attempt to make an example of him after screwing up the Ray Rice case so badly.

That may be an overly cynical view of the matter, but honestly. . .at this point, what reason as the National Football League given anyone to take any other view?