Move over, Jordon Hudson. Pablo Torre has a new pet story, and this one has NFL brass in a tizzy.
The Meadowlark Media personality reported on his eponymous podcaston Tuesday that the NFL may have colluded with its 32 franchises to suppress guaranteed contracts for veteran players shortly after the Cleveland Browns signed quarterback Deshaun Watson to a massive, fully guaranteed $230 million contract in 2022.
Now, Torre claims he’s being watched. Well, at least during his media hits. Appearing on The Dan Le Batard Show on Wednesday, Torre described how the NFL is reacting to his report.
“I would say that as the NFL’s monitoring my media appearances, which they are, I just like that they had to listen to that as well,” Torre said as Le Batard refocused the conversation from a joking discussion about champagne bottle accidents.
“Look, Dan, I just need to stress that this is a document that neither the league nor the owners nor the union wanted out,” Torre continued. “They fought extremely hard. Florio — the sell on this is that Mike Florio is as plugged into this as anybody — he’s as fluent and obsessive about this stuff as anybody, NFL palace intrigue and the law, and he couldn’t get it.”
No doubt, the league office is probably very interested in finding any clues as to how Pablo Torre obtained the document, so of course, they’ll be monitoring his media appearances. But now, the cat is out of the bag. The investigative journalist did what investigative journalists do, and now the NFL and NFLPA will have to deal with the repercussions.
“Unearthing this document unlocked one of the most fascinating stories I’ve ever investigated, in large part because it’s about what extremely powerful people — league officials, billionaire owners, and union leaders — have fought so hard to hide,” Torre told Awful Announcing. “And why? Because I’m a journalist, my personal philosophy is that more sunlight is needed, not less.”