Brees again downplays Richardson comments

On two separate occasions, Saints quarterback Drew Brees has downplayed reports regarding allegedly condescending remarks made by Panthers owner Jerry Richardson to Brees and Colts quarterback Peyton Manning during a February 4 bargaining session.
The first time, we thought Brees was simply taking the high road.  In his more recent remarks, it seems like Brees is flat-out disputing the accuracy of the reports.
“I think there was a lot of rumors probably coming out of that CBA negotiating session that Saturday at the Super Bowl,” Brees told our friends at XX 1090 in San Diego, via SportsRadioInterviews.com.  “To be honest, I haven’t even seen the comment that was made, but I heard it was from Jay Feely who kicks for the Jets.  And he wasn’t there at the meeting.  I’m not sure of how that got out or why.  But no, I mean, it was my first bargaining session to be at and obviously there was a lot talked about.  And emotions run high at times, but there was nothing that was derogatory or demeaning, so I’m not sure how that got blown out of proportion.”
But here’s the thing.  It wasn’t just Feely, who explained on PFT Live this week that he was merely passing along information that was shared with the various player representatives in a conference call held at some point after the session.  Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports had a detailed account of the ruckus arising from Richardson’s remarks.
And Silver stands by his reporting.  “Well, I talked to two people who I trust very much who I’ve talked to many times over the years who were right there in the room and had visceral, emotional reactions,” Silver told PFT Live.  “I’m very confident that it happened.”
In the end, the explanation simply may be that 20 people who witnessed the same incident interpreted it 20 different ways.  Either way, Richardson by all accounts isn’t involved in the talks currently occurring under the auspices of mediator George H. Cohen.  Which possibly says more than any one person can say about the situation.

source:  PFT.com
author:  Mike Florio