The entire Buccaneers world was turned upside down on Wednesday evening when a report from Jeff Cameron (of ESPN Radio 97.9 in Tallahassee) announced over the airwaves that Jameis Winston’s camp is preparing for a suspension to start the 2018 NFL season – of up to three games.

This all comes from the league’s ongoing investigation of a female Uber driver’s allegation that Winston groped her during a stop at the drive-through of a Mexican restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona, March 13, 2016.

Right when the report came out, Winston denied such allegations immediately.

“The story falsely accuses me of making inappropriate contact with this driver,” Winston wrote. “I believe the driver was confused as to the number of passengers in the car and who was sitting next to her. The accusation is false, and given the nature of the allegation and increased awareness and consideration of these types of matters, I am addressing this false report immediately. At the time of the alleged incident, I denied the allegations to Uber, yet they still decided to suspend my account.

“I am supportive of the national movement to raise awareness and develop better responses to the concerns of parties who find themselves in these types of situations, but this accusation is false. While I am certain that I did not make any inappropriate contact, I don’t want to engage in a battle with the driver and I regret if my demeanor or presence made her uncomfortable in any way.”

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Since then the NFL has had an open investigation in the matter. The NFL does not particularly work fast with these. Some would say they’re doing their due diligence in the appropriate time, and others will tell you the league likes to drag things on for its own sake.

Whichever you believe, we now have the report from Cameron that Winston is, allegedly, bracing for a suspension, but not due to him being guilty of the allegations, Rather, it’s because he failed to comply to the NFL Personal Conduct Policy that states it’s his responsibility to report any potential incident to the league office as soon as it happens.

“What he’ll be suspended over is a failure to report,” Cameron said. “And that’s frustrating. That’s a league obviously attempting, and understandably because they’ve made previous mis-steps, transgressions, they’re now apt to protect themselves to the nth degree and protect the shield, and so on and so forth… Under current conduct policy, you have to, as a player… promptly report any matter that comes to their attention that may constitute a violation of policy.”

The recent news of Winston being suspended isn’t even a matter of Winston being guilty of the accusations. At this point, it could be about technicalities of protecting the NFL’s brand instead of whether or not he did or didn’t do it or was even in the car.

That is something that exists in the language of the new NFL Personal Conduct Policy that was passed in December of 2016.

Clubs and players are obligated to promptly report any matter that comes to their attention (through, for example, victim or witness reports, law enforcement, or media reports) that may constitute a violation of this Policy. Clubs are expected to educate their employees on this obligation to report. Club reports should be made to NFL Security or Adolpho Birch of the Management Council legal staff. Questions about whether an incident triggers a reporting obligation should be directed to Adolpho Birch or Lisa Friel of the league office.

So, according to the current Conduct Policy, which is still in place today, Winston could potentially be held accountable for not reporting this instance when it happened. We know that because there is a voicemail from Uber contacting Winston “recently” after the incident occurred in March of 2016, which suspended Winston’s Uber account.

“Hi Jameis, this is Chris calling from the Uber office. I’m following up on a report we had from one of your recent trips where you or someone in the vehicle with you had some inappropriate behavior. I just want to follow up and get some more information on that. Your Uber account is on temporary hold while we investigate the situation. I’ll follow up with e-mail and hopefully we can find a better time to connect.”

Now, this is where things get a little tricky and where the NFL’s investigative measures that we do not know of, at this time, come into play.

Winston getting a voicemail like that where all it says is “inappropriate behavior” is very vague. That could be anything from using foul language or jumping all over the car or spilling food or drinks; anything like that. Of course, it could also be more serious, something such as the allegation that was brought before him. If Uber, in fact, emailed Winston and gave him the details of what allegations were presented to them after that voicemail, then the NFL may have the power to act on a failing to report. But, if Winston never received an email with the details of what the inappropriate behavior was or if they did not call him again and do so over the phone, then Winston could have a case to fight the NFL suspending him over a failure to report when Winston didn’t even know what he was supposed to report. Vague “inappropriate behavior” likely isn’t enough, especially if the league was not able to find any evidence of validity to the allegations against him, which we are not certain of either yet.

And there’s another element to this.

The incident occurred in March of 2016. The NFL’s current Personal Conduct Policy did not begin until late 2016. So, when this alleged incident occurred, that was not the exact language that was in the Conduct Policy, at that time. That, in theory, could give Winston some leverage to fight a suspension since he couldn’t violate a policy that didn’t exist yet.

However, the Conduct Policy that was in place, at the time – which went live in 2014 – did have language in it that, again, could be enough for the league to act the way it sees fit.

Clubs are obligated to promptly report any matter that comes to their attention (through, for example, victim or witness reports, law enforcement, media reports) that may constitute a violation of this Policy. Clubs are expected to educate their employees on this obligation to report. League employees who are aware of an incident that may violate this Personal Conduct Policy have a similar obligation to report the matter. Reports should be made to any of Robert Gulliver or Tara Wood of Human Resources, Jeffrey Miller of NFL Security or Adolpho Birch of the Management Council legal staff.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell – Photo by: Getty Images

If you’ll notice, the word “players” was not present at the beginning of the 2014 Conduct Policy like it is in the current one from 2016. However, the sentence “clubs are expected to educate their employees on this obligation to report” likely takes all the power out of Winston’s hands again if, in fact, he was made known of the details of the “inappropriate behavior” that Uber first notified him of. Under that Conduct Policy, the NFL could actually be able to legally blame the Buccaneers franchise for not knowing this (via the responsibility to tell their players to report any incident) and not reporting it to the NFL themselves. That also could be enough grounds for them to suspend however they see fit – in this case, the player involved.

But, all of this stems from whether or not Winston was told the details of the incident soon after they actually happened and not over a year and a half later when Buzzfeed came out with their breaking news report.

That is likely all of what the NFL has been investigating, and could likely be why we hear that people like Winston’s former Florida State teammate Ronald Darby (who might have been in the vehicle) and even Winston had not been interviewed yet. The case of story itself might already be closed by the NFL, but the investigation to see if Winston and the Buccaneers fully complied with the league’s reporting policy could still be on going and, according to Cameron’s recent report, not going well for those hoping Winston gets out of this without a scratch.

Many believe the most difficult part of the Buccaneers’ 2018 schedule happens in the early part of the schedule which begins at New Orleans, followed by home games against Super Bowl champion Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, which takes place on Monday Night Football.

Always above everything, we want truth and justice. If Winston did what he is being accused of, suspend him – no debate. But, it could very well be in the end that Winston isn’t suspended for truth in the allegation, but rather, technicalities and legal wording that allows the NFL to protect its brand in any cases that come before them as they see fit.

Time will tell and we should all learn of Winston’s fate sometime later this summer.