Browns defensive end Myles Garrett claims Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph called him a racial slur before Garrett ripped off Rudolph’s helmet and hit him over the head with it. The NFL says its investigation did not support that claim.
“We looked into it and found no such evidence,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.
It is unclear how thorough an investigation the NFL conducted, but there’s always ample audio available. In addition to the many microphones around the field that are used by the network for the broadcast, by rule every team must have either both of its starting guards or its starting and backup center wearing small microphones on their shoulder pads. So at least one player in the general vicinity would have been wearing a microphone, although we don’t know how well the audio of Garrett and Rudolph was picked up.
Perhaps the NFL should make all of the audio from the moments before Garrett attacked Rudolph publicly available, so that everyone can hear what was said.
