As the Falcons prepare to play in the Super Bowl on Sunday, an issue that concerned team executives several years ago is coming back into focus.
The Associated Press has published emails from 2010 suggesting that Falcons owner Arthur Blank, President Rich McKay, General Manager Thomas Dimitroff and then-head athletic trainer Marty Lauzon all had concerns that there was “excessive” reliance on painkillers to treat player on the team.
The Falcons are now declining to discuss the matter.
“That’s being litigated now. That’s not something we’re going discuss right now,” Dimitroff told the Associated Press on Monday night. “When the time is right, we’ll readdress that.”
Lauzon first emailed Dimitroff about concerns related to painkillers. Dimitroff forwarded the email to Blank, writing, “I thought it quite important for you to be aware of a rather sensitive subject and one we need to discuss before we include others on this topic matter.”
Blank replied, “Agree - we should talk about this together with Rich.”
There is no indication that the team broke either league rules or the law, but there are widespread concerns around the NFL about painkiller use, with many former players saying they were harmed by painkillers given them by team doctors. That’s exactly the kind of story the NFL doesn’t like seeing during Super Bowl week.
