NFL notebook: Trio agrees to meetings to address PED questions

Published 5:22 pm Thursday, August 18, 2016

Herald wire services

Three NFL players have agreed to be interviewed by league investigators regarding allegations related to banned performance-enhancing substances, according to multiple people familiar with the situation.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison and Green Bay Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers have agreed to the interviews, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

Mike Neal, an unsigned free agent, has not agreed to an interview at this point.

The NFL threatened to suspend the players Aug. 26 if they did not agree to interviews by Aug. 25. That threat was made by the league in a letter Monday from NFL executive Adolpho Birch to the NFL Players Association.

Harrison has agreed to make himself available to be questioned Aug. 29 at the Steelers’ facility, according to a letter from union attorney Heather McPhee to Birch. According to the letter, Harrison will answer questions related only to the specific allegations made against him in an Al-Jazeera report last year.

It was not immediately known if the NFL will agree to that condition.

It was not clear when Matthews and Peppers will make themselves available to be interviewed.

The Al-Jazeera report linked the four players and former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning to performance-enhancing substances. The league previously cleared Manning of wrongdoing and said he cooperated with the NFL’s investigation.

Sharper sentenced to 18 years

NEW ORLEANS — Former NFL star Darren Sharper has been sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison in a case where he was accused of drugging and raping as many as 16 women in four states.

U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced Sharper on Thursday. He earlier pleaded guilty in federal court in New Orleans to drugging three women so he could rape them. He also has pleaded guilty or no contest in state courts in Louisiana, Arizona, California and Nevada to charges arising from allegations of drugging and raping women.

Prosecutors suggested a 9-year prison term for Sharper under a multi-jurisdictional plea deal, but Milazzo rejected it as too lenient in June. The sentence, 18 years and four months imprisonment, was 15 months short of the maximum. He was also fined $20,000.

Sharper’s family left the courtroom without speaking to reporters. Defense attorney Billy Gibbens said later that the federal sentence won’t affect plea agreements in the four state courts.

Sharper pleaded guilty in federal court to three counts of distributing drugs with rape as the aim. He or his friend Brandon Licciardi, a former sheriff’s deputy in neighboring St. Bernard Parish, put anti-anxiety drugs or sedatives into women’s drinks so they could rape them, according to a 15-page statement signed as part of that plea.

Milazzo has scheduled sentencing Oct. 13 for Licciardi and a second New Orleans codefendant, Erik Nunez.

Charges around the country involve nine victims, but Milazzo has said in court that there may be as many as 16.

Like Sharper, Licciardi and Nunez admitted distributing drugs with the intent to commit rape. Their plea agreements say Licciardi has accepted a 17-year sentence, with 10 years for Nunez.

Sharper was named All-Pro six times and chosen for the Pro Bowl five times during a career that included stints with the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. He played in two Super Bowls, one with the Packers as a rookie and one with New Orleans Saints when they won in 2010.

He ended a 14-year career in 2011. He was working as an NFL network analyst when women began telling police in several cities similar stories of blacking out while drinking with him and waking up groggy to find they had been sexually abused.

Bills’ Lawson investigated

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — The NFL is investigating whether Buffalo Bills linebacker Manny Lawson has violated the league’s personal conduct policy, the team has announced.

The Bills didn’t provide any further details in releasing a one-sentence statement Thursday.

The announcement comes after The Buffalo News, on Tuesday, cited unnamed sources in reporting the league was investigating Lawson. Lawson on Wednesday said he was “shocked” by the report and isn’t aware of what he might have done wrong.

The Bills resume practice Thursday night.

Lawson is an 11-year veteran who is projected to start in place of injured linebacker Shaq Lawson.

Buffalo defensive tackle Marcell Dareus and backup running back Karlos Williams have both been suspended by the NFL for the first four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

Bills’ stadium renamed New Era Field

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills’ home stadium will be called New Era Field in a naming rights agreement the team reached with the Buffalo-based sports headwear and apparel company.

The Bills and New Era Cap Co. jointly announced the name to The Associated Press on Thursday morning. A formal unveiling will take place at the stadium later in the day.

New Era replaces Ralph Wilson Stadium, named after the Bills’ late Hall-of-Fame owner who died in March 2014. The agreement is worth more than $35 million and spans the remaining seven years of the team’s lease. New Era also has the right of first refusal to extend the agreement under a new lease, or if the Bills elect to build a new stadium.

Established in Buffalo in 1920, New Era last year produced 50 million caps, which were sold in more than 80 countries.

Hall of Fame offering refunds

CANTON, Ohio — The Pro Football Hall of Fame is offering refunds to fans who bought tickets to its canceled preseason game this month.

The hall announced Thursday that it will reimburse fans for the face value of their tickets, fees and one-night hotel accommodations.

It was forced to cancel the Aug. 7 game between Green Bay and Indianapolis after paint congealed and hardened on parts of the field at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.

At least four fans sued the NFL in federal court in northern Ohio over the canceled game.

An attorney who brought the lawsuit says the hall’s initial plan to only refund ticket prices was too little.

The hall of fame says it also will offer affected fans four tickets to its museum.