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Do you guys remember back in December when Al-Jazeera America did an investigative report about performance enhancing drugs in the NFL, and it named some pretty big names? There were a few high profile NFL players in the report, but the biggest one was Denver QB Peyton Manning, who came out forcefully and denied the allegations.
It seemed to die on the vine after a couple days, as the main person interviewed for the story withdrew his claims against Manning, and whatever interest people had in the story seemed to die after the Broncos won the Super Bowl and Manning subsequently retired.
HOWEVAH...
It appears the investigation into the other players named on that list is still ongoing...and has been since the Spring. According to this report from ESPN, officials from the NFL have been trying to interview several players, including Green Bay Packers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers, since April, and the NFLPA has been resisting.
Look, this could be nothing, this could be something minor, and this could be something big. The bottom line is no one knows. It could very well be a cursory interview to completely put to bed allegations that had very little credibility to begin with, but the NFL hasn't really come out and said what information they do or do not have.
The key witness linking PED's to Peppers and Matthews is Charles Sly, the same guy that accused Manning...and the same guy that recanted about Manning a few days later and said he fabricated everything.
So I'll be surprised if there's anything that comes out of this, as I'm sure it's just the NFL going through the process of tying up any loose ends and wrapping this thing up, and the NFLPA doing what a union should be doing--protecting their members and making sure the NFL follows the CBA.
That said, it's still worth keeping an eye on, even from a distance. If there is anything to this at all, the worst case scenario for the Packers is that Matthews and Peppers were somehow involved with PED's, and then be subject to league discipline. If that were to happen they could be suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season, which would make them ineligible to play in their week two game against the Vikings, the home opener for U.S. Bank Stadium.