Every NFL team has a head of security. For many if not most if not all NFL teams, the head of security is also a fixer.
The topic became relevant during training camp, when the 49ers managed to keep under wraps for 11 days the fact that coach Kyle Shanahan had suffered multiple injuries (including a severe concussion) in a car accident. Some speculated that team security worked directly with law enforcement to keep the relevant information from being discovered or disclosed.
The situation took on a different vibe when a police report placed the blame for the accident on the driver of the car. It was quickly dismissed by Shanahan as a clerical error; he accepted full responsibility for the crash. That twist prompted former NFL player Emmanuel Acho to discuss the situation on the Speakeasy podcast.
Acho pointed to a specific example from his own playing career, regarding the manner in which a car accident was handled. And while he didn’t mention the team, Acho spent time with the Browns, Eagles, and Giants.
Acho explained that, one day after practice, his car rear-ended another car. (Generally speaking, it’s always your fault when you hit someone from behind. It’s part of the obligation to maintain a safe distance behind the car in front of you.)
“I [contacted] one of our security people,” Acho said. “He says, ‘Acho, when the cop shows up, send the cop away. I’m going to send you another cop. And that other cop is going to say it wasn’t your fault. It was their fault.’ I was like, ‘Wait, they do that?’”
Acho then explained that a second cop did indeed arrive, and that the second cop found that the other driver was at fault. Acho added that, once the other driver found out that he played for the Eagles, she claimed that she and her daughter were injured.
“Our head of security had to offer them two home tickets plus signed jerseys,” Acho said, “and then were like, ‘Oh, no, we’re fine.’”
Derrick Gunn, who has covered the Eagles for a very long time, posted this tweet on Wednesday: “The NFL is still investigating Eagles head of security Dom DiSandro based on comments made by Emmanuel Acho on his Speakeasy Podcast back in early August. . . . Acho who played for 3 NFL teams never mentioned a name . But it has been widely speculated he was referring to Big Dom.”
In fairness, the NFL should be investigating the Browns and Giants, too, if the league is indeed investigating DiSandro.
And, frankly, the league should be investigating every security director for every franchise. If it’s happening at one team, it’s likely happening at others. It’s potentially a cultural reality throughout the NFL.
In that respect, it would be no different than the Saints’ bounty scandal. Many teams were doing similar things. The league, instead of addressing it as a cultural problem, decided to drop the hammer on the one team the NFL had caught red-handed, in the hopes of scaring all other teams straight.
That’s not how cultural problems should be addressed. If, over time, the various franchises have developed a certain way of protecting players against the potential consequences of their mistakes and if the league has never before tried to put a stop to the things that team security will do to keep players out of trouble, it would be wrong to suddenly whack one person from one team for doing something that others are doing.
None of that will matter, if the league is determined to make an example out of DiSandro in an effort to get other teams to stop doing the same thing. If it turns out that Acho was indeed referring to Big Dom.
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