DeMaurice Smith: NFLPA Wants “Direct Evidence” In Bounty Case

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said Friday that he wants the NFL to prove “direct evidence” that players participated in the bounty program, according to USA Today.

"As of yet, they haven't turned over anything that we would consider to be direct evidence of player involvement in a 'pay to injure' scheme that we could consider for discipline," Smith said. "It's very hard to have a productive discussion about punishment when one side has kept, to itself, all the information.

"What I would expect is to have a conversation soon and certainly it would be our expectation that the request for all information, as it relates to particular players, will be provided before any discipline takes place."

Smith added that the media speculation around player punishment is a “very unfair situation," according to USA Today.