Sort of a general post about the criminal aspects of this and how they play into PR.
1) The Mannings may not be criminally liable for simply receiving and using HGH. (That's
one reason why HGH became popular when anabolic steroids became more criminalized.) However, Peyton may a) face a league sanction and b) have his reputation tarnished. Logically, the path of least damage is to acknowledge all the provable facts and spin the fuzzy ones. Since Peyton used the clinic, his best claim would be that he used it for everything but HGH, and that the clinic sent HGH to his wife. Which happened.
2) Sly's in relatively deep shit. Sly admitted to being involved a fairly sophisticated conspiracy to distributing controlled substances. I assume Al Jazeera has a lot of footage that didn't make it into the documentary. What did make it in was:
- Sly offering to sell steroids (D2) to the undercover reporter.
- Sly saying that he worked for the Guyer Institute that set up IVs for Payton and his wife after hours in 2010, and shipped HGH to Payton. Guyer prescribed drugs out of his office for them.
- Steroids to Ryan Howard.
- Steroids to Zimmerman.
- Steroids to James Harrison.
- Steroids to Mike Neal; then Julius Peppers, then 10-12 players were told how to order and use D-2.
- Text from Clay Matthews wanting anti-inflammatories.
He's either implicated in shipping steroids/HGH/other drugs for off label purposes (multiple felonies) or, if he claims he lied, trying to sell steroids (or fake steroids) to an undercover reporter. Again, the scenario which minimized damage was pushed. His best case would be that he lied to the undercover reporter in an attempt to sell vitamin shots.
3) The other players - Dustin Keller, Zimmerman, Howard, Teagarden, the Green Bay Packers, et. al. They're subject to league sanctions, and civil ramifications (loss of endorsements, etc.). If they received only HGH, there's probably no criminal liability, but there could be, depending on the state they were in when they received it. Their liability increases with other types of controlled substances/PEDs.
- Teagarden admitted on film to steroid use, peptides.
4) The clinic is on the hook any which way for distributing HGH/Steriods. If MDs prescribed the drugs (Dr. Dale Guyer) or distributed them, they're also on the hook.
The investigation might take awhile because the weak link is Sly. He could be offered immunity or a deal. Dr. Guyer also looks particularly vulnerable. On the other hand, there's always the chance that someone on the far end breaks. Say, Teagarden cooperating, which would put more pressure on Sly/Guyer.
If one of them breaks, the dominos will start to fall. Peyton's not the most important or central player here, despite his celebrity. I think the biggest development thusfar is USADA's involvement in the issue. They're not going to roll over or turn a blind eye to service either MLB or the NFL. (And MLB has already shown it will go after violators, no matter how well they're perceived in the game.) So while Manning might not be facing a criminal violation, I don't see how he remains untouched when the dust clears, retirement or no retirement.
Edit - I realized that I'm somewhat confusing HGH/Steroids in this. From what I can see Delta-2, or D-2, is mostly likely an anabolic steroid, which is a Schedule III controlled substance. For Sly/Guyer, that'd be a max of 15 years for each trafficking offense. Then there's RICO, etc. Basically for Sly/Guyer, this could be "go to jail for most of your life" stuff. On the other hand, simple possession is punishable by up to one year for a first time offender.