ESPN’s Chris Mortensen has not one but two key Monday scoops regarding matters that supposedly are confidential.

In addition to Mort’s story regarding T.O.’s placement in the program of enhanced drug testing, Mort reports that Titans middle linebacker Ryan Fowler faces a suspension based on information provided to the NFL by the late David Jacobs.

Fowler will be suspended pending a hearing to determine whether the suspension will stick.

Jacobs reportedly committed suicide last week, only a few weeks after meeting with NFL officials and naming names regarding the persons to whom he sold steroids.

Fowler spent 2004 through 2006 with the Cowboys, and Jacobs operated out of the Dallas area.  Fowler is the second NFL player to be implicated by Jacobs.  Prior reports have linked former Cowboys lineman Matt Lehr to Jacobs’ operation.

New York lawyer Peter Ginsberg, who represents Fowler, blasted the league for its intended actions.  “Ryan has never tested positive for any banned substance,” Ginsberg told Mort.  “There apparently are unsubstantiated accusations that have been made by an admitted felon without any corroboration and the commissioner apparently has seen fit to use those accusations to threaten my client’s career.

“It’s a violation of Ryan’s due process rights and seemingly a violation of the NFL’s policy itself to use these kind of unsubstantiated accusations itself.  We’ve asked the NFL to provide to us any corroboration or support for these allegations and, to date, the NFL has provided absolutely no evidence to support any threatened discipline.”

Frankly, Ginsberg needs to read the league’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.  At Section 5, the policy (which is the result of collective bargaining between the league and the union) permits the imposition of discipline based on “sufficient credible evidence” to permit a conclusion that the player has used, possessed, or distributed performance-enhancing substances. 

The bigger question is whether the league can produce “sufficient credible evidence” at the hearing, given that Jacobs is no longer alive.  And given that Jacobs might have given the names of more players than Fowler and Lehr to the NFL and in light of the report that Jacobs had a gunshot wound to the abdomen and one to the head, we’re curious to know whether Jacobs truly killed himself, or whether someone else pulled the trigger, wiped the gun down, and put it in Jacobs’ hand.