Tampa Bay Buccaneers believe Josh Freeman’s camp, not Greg Schiano, leaked drug program info

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) drops back to pass against the New York Giants during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

It would be an understatement to describe the split between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Josh Freeman as “messy”, and one of the pivotal moments (there were a number of them) of the split involved the leakage of Freeman’s involvement in the NFL’s drug program. A source told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen last month that Josh Freeman was in the first stage of the league’s drug program, and Freeman had to later clarify that he was in the drug program for taking Adderrall, since he has ADHD. The initial report seemed to paint a bad picture of Freeman, but public perception was in Freeman’s favor following the clarification.

The NFLPA stated that they would create an investigation into the matter to find the leak, because they believe that Greg Schiano may be responsible for the leak. However, the National Football Post’s Len Pasquarelli reports this morning, as part of the Sunday Blitz feature, that Tampa Bay Buccaneers officials secretly believe that the leak was created by Josh Freeman’s camp in order to help the quarterback leave a sticky situation in Tampa.

Does anyone actually buy that for one second? Why on earth would Freeman’s camp ever leak that in order to later spin it against the Buccaneers? I don’t think it would have ever helped Freeman get out of Tampa, because he was going to get released anyway. The relationship between both sides was already irreparable at that point, and I doubt Freeman’s camp would ever create that kind of a gamble in order to get him out of there. It’s a shrewd move in hindsight, but I think it’s a stretch to point to Freeman’s camp as that being the reason. While it is possible, I think Pasquarelli’s report serves to show us that there are still plenty of burned bridges between both sides, and the Buccaneers front office is still largely unhappy with what Freeman did.

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