Some NFL teams have shielded white players...

Some NFL teams have shielded white players who have been involved in drugs, while allowing black players to become exposed to public scrutiny, an NFL drug consultant and the leader of the players’ union charged.

The accusations were made as several prominent blacks expressed concern that 86% of the players whose drug involvement has become public since 1980 are black, according to a report published in Wednesday’s Washington Post.

Former All-Pro defensive end Carl Eller, who has served as a drug consultant to the NFL since 1981, said he has helped “about 27 players, about 15 black and a dozen white. But I haven’t seen the names of the whites in the paper.”

Executive Director Gene Upshaw of the NFL Players Assn. also told of instances of white players being protected by teams while their black teammates’ drug problems were made public. He would not cite specific examples.