Peyton Manning
Mike Florio has opened up some new developments in the Peyton Manning case. They found that Naughright called a sexual assault crisis center on the day of the incident and her accounts state that she feared for her life and that student athletes were getting away with everything. Mike Florio also comes up with one more snippet of analysis taken from the situation.
Despite curious circumstances relating to their content and creation, the affidavit executed and letter written by Saxon six years later tend to corroborate Naughright more than Manning. The failure of Manning’s lawyers to take Saxon’s deposition becomes even more puzzling in light of the appearance that his testimony breaks the tie in Naughright’s favor.
Then there’s this: PFT has learned that Naughright’s lawyers scheduled, on July 15, 2003, a deposition of Saxon for December 15, 2003. On December 3, 2003 (roughly a month after a judge ruled that the case would proceed to trial), Naughright’s lawyers canceled the deposition.
It’s unclear why Manning’s lawyers didn’t promptly attempt to get Saxon under oath in advance of trial, or why they didn’t previously file a cross-notice of deposition, which arguably would have prevented Naughright’s lawyers from canceling the deposition unilaterally. It ultimately didn’t matter, because the case settled at mediation three weeks after Saxon’s deposition was canceled.
Without Saxon’s testimony, it’s impossible to fully resolve the dispute between Naughright’s version and Manning’s version. There’s enough from the testimony and the circumstances, however, to permit a reasonable person to conclude that Manning did something far more than moon Saxon.
Which means that we’ve finally reached the point where there’s enough evidence to allow educated opinions to be made about what did and didn’t happen, even though we’ll never know what happened with the kind of clarity that would have existed if Saxon had spoken.
– Greg Doyel analyzes further.
NFL News
– Mike Pouncey had a surgery to fix another surgery which kept him out of the Pro Bowl.
– After playing with an arm that looked like a football, Thomas Davis’ wife thinks he is some kind of superhero.
– Cowboys don’t think RGIII will be able to fit their offense.
– The University of Michigan landed a pledge from brother of that guy from Stanford, QB Dylan McCaffery.
– Browns are close to resigning WR Travis Benjamin.
– There may be no more 40 time at the combine.
– Arbitrator Stephen Burbank has found that the NFL created an improper tax exemption regarding their ticket sales which means that they now have to reallocate those funds to the salary pool, where they were originally supposed to go. This means that more than $100 million will be added toward the league-wide salary pool and $50 million of that should be added toward the salary cap.
– LB Vontaze Burfict says that he is being singled out by the NFL.
NFL Analysis
– ESPN’s Mel Kiper lists some of the options for the Broncos 1st Round draft pick.
– Jeff Dooley lists every team’s draft need in the NFC.
– Matt Claassen states that the Patriots should resign LaGarrette Blount and target Jermaine Kearse.
– Nathan Jahnke states that the 49ers should resign Ian Williams and spend big on Alshon Jeffery who will probably be tagged.
– Chase Stuart analyzes Antonio Brown’s adjusted catch yards/attempt and finds it was the highest in the NFL. He also analyzes playoff game scripts data for some trends.
– Nate Davis breaks down questions for every AFC team.
– Michael Marot explains some of the other uses that NFL teams use for the combine.
Broncos
– Broncos signed TE Richard Gordon, who is aptly described by PFT as “a guy with more addresses than catches.”
– Broncos also sign former 1st round selection DT/N Phil Taylor.
– The Broncos and Brock Osweiler are expected to open talks this week.
