Morning Wrap: DEA Agents Visit NFL Team Doctors

Hmmm....this is interesting. It was a surprise Sunday for the medical staffs of several NFL teams this week as they got unexpected visits from the Drug Enforcement Agency.

According to reports: The San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks were all paid visits by agents looking to make sure prescription painkillers were prescribed and handled properly.

According to the folks at ESPN, the visits were prompted in part by player, both former and current, that teams often randomly doled out the painkillers without keeping track of who or how much was given.

The agents were looking for potential Controlled Substance Act violations.

The teams and the league agreed to cooperate with the investigation and according the the NFL, no violations were found.

ESPN, which helped break the story, provides investigative guy John Barr to discuss:

Former NFL Players: League Provided Illegal Painkillers

Oh boy, it's getting deep now.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday morning in San Francisco by at least 8 former NFL Football players claims the league had them work around their various injuries by supplying them illegal painkillers to mask their injuries.

The suit, which includes at least 3 guys who played for the 1985 championship Chicago Bears team, including former quarterback Jim McMahon,  is according to lawyers, seeking class-action status and there are upwards of 500 more players ready to climb on board.

The players say the league knowingly had teams give them days off, excuse them for practices or anything else necessary for them to be ready to play on Sunday's, in or not in pain. All say they were addicted to painkillers by the time they left the league and some say they still are addicted.

For their part, the league, which is holding it's Spring Meetings in Atlanta, declined comment, saying they haven't seen the suit.

You'll recall, the league has already lost a $765 million summary judgement to a large group of players saying they (NFL) concealed concussion results. It's not known if they'd be liable the same way in a case such as this.

Since it is very early in the process, we like you, will be curious to see if this case makes it's way to a courthouse. And if it does, then where does it go? Can the players prove collusion in such a matter? Can they prove the teams or the medical staffs hid things from them???

Donovan Campbell discusses from his newsroom
((HT: WSVN-TV))
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