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Winston aftermath: Report says Darby wasn’t in car for whole ride

Details are emerging after news Thursday that Bucs QB Jameis Winston faces a three-game suspension.
 
Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston (3) drops back to pass during a game against the Atlanta Falcons in December in Tampa. [MONICA HERNDON   |   Times]
Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston (3) drops back to pass during a game against the Atlanta Falcons in December in Tampa. [MONICA HERNDON | Times]
Published June 22, 2018|Updated June 22, 2018

There's no telling how much detail will be disclosed in what the NFL learned in its investigation that led to Jameis Winston being suspended for the first three games of the upcoming season, but some have already been reported in the first 24 hours since news broke.

One of the lingering discrepancies in the Uber ride in Arizona in 2016 was the number of passengers, with the driver saying she was alone with Winston and he saying that there were two other passengers with him, including former FSU teammate Ronald Darby.

Darby issued a statement stating the same and that nothing happened on the ride in which the driver accused Winston of grabbing her crotch. Winston and Darby never named the third passenger, and it seemed a pivotal piece of testimony at the core of the he-said, she-said.

NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported one potential explanation on Thursday night, saying the NFL didn't much weight on Darby's corroboration of Winston because it determined that he wasn't in the car for the entire Uber ride in question.

Go back to Darby's original statement and he never specifically says he wasn't in the car the entire ride — attempts were made to clarify that the day the statement were made, to no avail.

We may never know who the third passenger was (or if he was in the car when anything happened) or why Darby, while arguing that nothing happened, would have a problem naming another person who could substantiate that claim.