LSU Sexual Misconduct Bombshell Includes Current Browns Players
Monday, USA Today published a scathing article on the LSU Football program, including allegations it had covered up or otherwise stonewalled accusations from women regarding sexual misconduct by players during Ed Orgeron's tenure as head coach, which included both Cleveland Browns draft picks from the university in the 2021 NFL Draft - Grant Delpit and Jacob Phillips. They won the National Championship after the 2019 season.
Browns rookie linebacker and third round pick Jacob Phillips was accussed of rape. According to LSU's attorney Johanna Posada confirmed that he was never punished. Phillips denied to provide a comment. There are no other details.
Second round safety Grant Delpit was accused of recording a woman during sex without her knowledge and then sharing the video with others. Through his attorney, Delpit denied the allegations.
“Until being recently advised in connection with this USA TODAY investigation, Mr. Delpit was unaware of any police report or Title IX complaint having been lodged against him in 2017,” his attorney, Shawn Holley, said in a statement. “To date, he has not seen any report identifying him in connection with this alleged incident.”
The article is largely focused on the process as it relates to the football program, what they did or more importantly didn't do with information they had. While it does mention players, including two members of the Browns, it does not provide much detail on what happened with those cases. That information simply may not be available at this point, which is one of the issues they lay out.
Phillips is mentioned as being accused of rape, but there's no mention of anything else. Whether the case was investigated, the case was dropped, or anything else. The entire incident is shrouded in mystery. It's the same with Delpit, who has more specific details related to his case in terms of what he stands accused, but no indication what has happened since then.
All of this is appalling and certainly looks like a cover up by the LSU football program, but raises additional questions, which now have to be asked of the Browns.
What is their reaction to the story?
What did they know about these allegations?
How did they ultimately come to the conclusion they were comfortable with drafting them, given the seriousness of the allegations?
Are they still comfortable with having selected these players?
The reality is an ugly one. If LSU's football program was deliberately covering up sexual misconduct allegations against their players and they were in fact guilty, it worked to their benefit, only proving how easy it can be to cover up sexual violence. There needs to be continued investigation into this and concrete answers need to be found and ultimately the program punished as a result.
The flip side is if players like Delpit and Phillips are innocent, they continue to exist under a cloud of uncertainty.
The incredibly discouraging and ultimately heartbreaking part about this is it works. LSU won a national championship and women may have had their lives destroyed. The cost benefit analysis would almost certainly taken the craven position that it was worth it and given the opportunity, plenty of programs would happily make that trade.
The Browns have been referred to as LSU North because of the number of Tigers on their roster. At the moment, that's not a nickname for which anyone should have pride.
