NFL investigating Michael Irvin under personal conduct policy after March sex assault accusation
In May, Pro Football Hall of Famer, former Dallas Cowboys receiver and current NFL Network personality Michael Irvin was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a 27-year-old woman in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Police in the city investigated the case for a couple of months, before handing it over to the Broward County state attorney’s office, which decided in July not to press charges.
But because he is an NFL employee and the NFL personal conduct policy includes all individuals affiliated with the league – owners, coaches, players, other team employees, game officials and employees in the league offices, NFL Network and NFL Films – the league has started an investigation into Irvin and the accusations brought against him, according to Deadspin.
League spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to Deadspin via email that the investigation is ongoing under the personal conduct policy.
The NFL spent 13 months investigating the Ezekiel Elliott situation before reaching the decision to suspend him for six games (a decision that was upheld by arbitrator Harold Henderson on Tuesday), but it’s unclear how long the investigation into Irvin’s situation will take.
NFL Network employees have been suspended or fired before for different issues: Brian Baldinger was suspended six months last year for going on a radio show in Philadelphia and saying the Eagles should put a bounty on Elliott, and Warren Sapp was fired in 2015 after soliciting a prostitute in Phoenix during Super Bowl week.
As the Elliott case and, going back several years, the Ben Roethlisberger case, show, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will mete out punishment to those who were not found guilty or charged by legal authorities.
It is not the first time Irvin has been accused of sexual assault; in 2007, he reached a confidential settlement with an accuser, and in 1997, he was accused but the alleged victim eventually admitted to lying.
