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A league source told Yahoo Sports that an NFL investigator had gone out to interview Britney Taylor, who had filed a lawsuit against Brown last week in a federal court of law. Florida. The source declined to say where the league interview with Taylor had occurred, or whether it would be limited to Monday. However, the source said the NFL should keep the lines of communication open with Taylor, with the possibility of further interviews if the league's investigation warrants them. The NFL should also request an interview with Brown in the coming days, although it is not known if this date has been fixed.
Monday's meeting with Taylor is a milestone for the NFL as it shifts the league's investigation into a phase where Commissioner Roger Goodell can begin to weigh first-hand allegations and evidence gathered during the process. Although the details of the Taylor meeting are not known, previous investigations of domestic violence or allegations of sexual misconduct led the NFL to look for evidence to help Goodell and his advisers reach consensus on discipline.
The powers of Roger Goodell in the probe Antonio Brown
Goodell is free to place Brown on the Commissioner's exempt list. Because this is a balancing of potential discipline under the powers conferred by the collective agreement, Goodell can set its own bar for the decision. He does not need flawless proof. That's what makes Taylor's interview with investigators so crucial to the coming decision. With his meeting with the registered league, Goodell could choose to place Brown on the exempt list simply by assessing that Taylor is credible and that his account of the alleged events is compelling.
If Goodell put Brown on the exempt list after the interview with Taylor, he could also do so with the stated intention that the league has not determined any guilt – but finds enough merit in the allegations to put Brown in the lead. gap of the playing field during the investigation. is finished. This is essentially the obstacle that the NFL may have crossed on Monday: having obtained enough first-hand information to determine the merits of continuing the investigation. The league could then invoke this ruling to justify sitting Brown for as many days or weeks as necessary for the NFL to complete an investigation.
Difficulties of the ongoing investigation of the NFL
The ongoing investigation is where it will become more complicated for the league. The main difficulty of the NFL is that no other investigation has already taken place. To date, the police have not investigated Brown for the allegations of rape and sexual assault contained in the civil suit. Taylor's lawyers also did not indicate what physical evidence (if any) exists to prove his claims. This will likely focus on other forms of evidence, such as digital communications or any record that may exist, as well as the possible existence of other witnesses.
This highlights the lack of "guardrails" with which the league usually works in these cases. Rather than relying on police reports or the efforts of other investigative bodies, the league will have to produce evidence to make a decision from the ground up, and then defend them if and when a decision is made. If Brown is suspended under the personal conduct policy, it is almost certain that the NFL Players Association will appeal the decision, as it has done in many other high-profile cases. And since the league's investigators will produce the evidence or the interviews, it will highlight the skill and diligence of those gathering the facts for the NFL.
At least part of the investigation will also include other people who might complain about clarifying Brown or adding to Taylor's allegations. As it currently stands, one of these people could be Marquise Brown, the Baltimore Ravens rookie, who, according to ProFootballTalk, is the unidentified player alleged to have been named in the complaint as being at Brown's residence at time of the alleged 2018 rape.
Will the artist's recent allegation be a factor?
There is also the issue of a recent Sports Illustrated report, which contains the story of an unnamed woman who accuses Brown of an incident where he stood behind her almost completely naked – covering only her genitals – while she was trying to paint a mural at home. . This allegation is another that the NFL could seek to validate during the Taylor investigation.
What is clear is that the work of the NFL, which investigates complaints against Brown, does not just start, but gets complicated over time. The impact of his status on the Patriots remains to be seen. But a decisive first step was taken, giving Goodell a latitude he did not have last week. Specifically, decide if there is enough information to continue the league's investigation and keep Brown off the field in the next few days.
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