Former Saints defensive linemen Anthony Hargrove was all over the news this week when a signed declaration to the NFL regarding the team’s bounty program was leaked. Hargrove isn’t happy about it, and it’s hard to blame him.
“I’m disappointed that ‘the Declaration’ was leaked,” Hargrove said in a statement to ESPN. “The intent of ‘the Declaration’ was to let the NFL know exactly what happened in March of 2010. Call me naive, but I did not expect them to publicize the fact that I had sent them ‘the Declaration.’ But since they did, and because they grossly mischaracterized my words, it obviously became a hot item and subsequently was leaked by someone.
“I do not know who leaked it, but I would have preferred for it to remain private between the NFL and me.”
Hargrove submitted the statement originally to the NFL Players Association, which subsequently submitted it to the league. There are a number of ways the statement could have found its way to those reporters, and there are even more competing agendas at play in the bounty case.