Broncos face looming question with linebacker D.J. Williams

There is an NFL head coach who, before the rumble of electronic progress could be heard, would fine his players $100 per page for a lost playbook.

And that fine was only first step, the welcome mat to the dreaded 1-on-1 meeting in said head coach’s office, which would include a long list of paint-peeling profanities sandwiched around the words “release” or “waived” or “done.” I asked the same head coach this past weekend what he would do if one of his players had not simply lost a playbook, but rather voluntarily posted several images from an iPad playbook on a Twitter account or anywhere else on the vast expanse of the online world.

Silence was the answer. For several seconds.

There were plenty of colorful words in the answer that eventually followed, but the idea was the fine would be as “enormous as humanly possible” and the player’s future would be in doubt.

I added what if the player was also facing a six-game suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy — a suspension he is currently fighting in court — as well as a DWI trial. The answer was the doubt only grows from there.

Which brings the Broncos to linebacker D.J. Williams. Williams did post some images from his playbook online this past week. He is facing a suspension he’s fighting in court and he is also dealing with a DWI trial.

He’s also one of the highest-paid Broncos and a former team captain who has already had that designation removed because of some off-the-field issues. And what the Broncos do now will be watched by many teams, including some which, like Denver, have made the move to putting their playbooks on iPads.

The multi-level security for the iPads was largely built to electronically wipe the device clean if it were lost or the player was released. Perhaps a player willingly taking some of the images and posting them on the Internet while still with the team didn’t come up in the meeting.

But the Broncos are faced with a dilemma, one of the players has already touched the stove. And they have a pile of other players, with a pile of iPads in their possession, with a pile of social media avenues originating from the keyboards.

Especially since the images Williams posted were up long enough for many fans as well as those employed by other teams to click and save. And click-and-save are exactly what they did.


(denverpost.com)