Mueller report: NFL never had elevator video

The Robert Mueller led investigation into the NFL's handling of the Ray Rice investigation has concluded. The investigation concluded that the NFL did not have any prior possession of the elevator video before it became public.

While the investigation found that there was no cover up of the elevator video, it did find several issues with the NFL's handling of the case.

Including but not limited to:

CBSSports

"The NFL's deference to law enforcement 'can foster an environment in which it is less important to understand precisely what a player did than to understand how and when the criminal justice system addresses the event.'"


"The NFL's deference to the law enforcement process involving Mr. Rice 'led to deficiencies in the League's collection and analysis of information during its investigation.'"


"The NFL had 'substantial information suggesting a serious event had occurred inside the elevator that the League should have further investigated.' Had the League done so, 'it may have uncovered additional information about the incident, possibly including the in-elevator video prior to its public release.'"

The investigation was very thorough. In all they searched 400 of the leagues computers to see if there were any trace of the video in question and over 1500 calls were traced to find out who they were placed to. In all, no evidence was found that the NFL had the video or had talked to any parties about the video.

New York Giants owner John Mara and Steelers owner Art Rooney II headed up the investigation from the owners side and released this statement.

This matter has tarnished the reputation of the NFL due to our failure to hand out proper punishments," Mara and Rooney said in a statement. "It has been a wake-up call to all involved and we expect the changes that have been made will lead to improvements in how any similar issues are handled in the future.

"We have every confidence that Roger Goodell is the right person to lead the league as we move forward.

While the findings will tarnish the league and Roger Goodell's reputation a bit, with no findings of a cover up, Goodell should be able to come out of this with his job. But they will most definitely have to make changes on how discipline is decided in the future to avoid another incident like this one.

H/T ESPN NFL

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