The Denver Broncos are in some hot water after Director of Pro Personnel Tom Heckert was arrested for drunk driving in June, as the team did not make the new public and then had director of player personnel Matt Russell do the same over the weekend.
According to ESPN.com, the team may face penalties for the issues and former center Tom Nalen took the team to talk on his radio show, saying that if they did something in the first place, Russell may not have gotten his DUI. The report says that Heckert was arrested in June and charged with driving under the influence and careless driving. The news came out on Tuesday, which followed the news about Russell.
Nalen said more could have been done and that it is an embarrassment to the franchise. According to ESPN: "About an hour after The Associated Press first reported Heckert's arrest, the Broncos released a statement saying, "We were made aware of the matter involving Tom Heckert immediately after it occurred and promptly notified the league office. His arrest is extremely upsetting, and this situation is being handled internally as well as in coordination with NFL policies."
"Tom's actions are obviously part of a disturbing pattern of irresponsible behavior that we are aggressively addressing within our organization," the statement said. "One member of the Broncos arrested for driving under the influence is one too many. This type of behavior puts innocent people at risk and cannot be tolerated. While our team and league supply plenty of resources to prevent these situations, it is clear we need to do better."
"It's embarrassing for us as a franchise, it's embarrassing for Mr. [Pat] Bowlen, it's especially embarrassing for our fans. We don't tolerate it and we're not going to," Broncos president Joe Ellis told the Denver Post. "My expectation is the discipline will be severe."
