Broadway Joe
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- Mar 19, 2019
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A report over the weekend painted a nefarious picture of secret surveillance of Jets players in their own locker room. The report, from Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, included quotes from unnamed current and former players who took great issue with the realization that hidden cameras were present.
In contrast, Jets guard Greg Van Roten — the team’s NFL Players Association representative — has gone on the record to say that he and his constituents have no problem with the presence of the video recording devices.
“Talking to the guys on the team, nobody cares that there are cameras in there,” Van Roten told reporters, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. “We know why they’re there. They’re there to protect us if something happens, if something goes missing. . . . It’s not like they’re spying on us, you know what I mean?”
The NFLPA is indeed considering how to handle the issue. Based on the things said by the team’s NFLPA rep, however, there’s nothing to handle.
“We all know there are cameras in there,” Van Roten said. “It’s no secret. The team is up front about that. It’s an ongoing conversation between the NFLPA and the NFL Management Council regarding that. There are different perspectives on if that’s OK, if it’s not OK. The players’ issue with it is not privacy-related. I’ll say that.”
The concern, as Van Roten explained it, comes from the possibility that the team or the league will use security footage to punish players for COVID-19 protocols. The easy answer to that is that if they comply with the COVID-19 protocols, as they should in the locker room and everywhere else, it should be no problem.
Based on Van Roten’s comments, it sounds like this ultimately will be no problem for the Jets.