Crunch Time
I grew up in a pro-football household. Every Sunday, Monday and Thursday was spoken for, and often the other days were filled with pre- and post-game analyses. The game featured heavily in the background of every holiday gathering and weekend barbecue for years. Professional football was one of the constants of my childhood, yet it’s getting harder and harder to support the organization that oversees it.
As the 2018 season progresses, the absence of certain players has been blatantly obvious. Many of those players were serving four-game suspensions due to performance-enhancing drugs, which causes one to think about the startling inequality with which different offenses are treated within the National Football League.
In 2016, Martavis Bryant was suspended for an entire season for substance abuse, irreparably damaging his football career. Colin Kaepernick was recently blackballed from the organization following a protest against police brutality. But when players are arrested or convicted for assault, domestic violence and other violent crimes, the response isn’t nearly so harsh. In fact, in many cases, it’s nearly nonexistent.
Often when players are suspended, the league cites them for violating “personal conduct policy,” saying nothing of the nature of the violation. These transgressions frequently have something to do with violence toward another person, but usually result in a one-game suspension, if that.
This is interesting given the league’s supposed rule mandating an automatic six-game suspension for domestic violence allegations. The rule was put into place in December 2014 following the Ray Rice scandal, in which the Baltimore Ravens running back was suspended for a mere two games after he allegedly struck his wife and was filmed dragging her unconscious body out of an elevator. Following the backlash, the NFL instituted the league-wide policy on domestic violence, but that rule has not been and is not being enforced.
The NFL’s current personal conduct policy states, “Violations involving assault, battery, domestic violence or sexual assault will result in a baseline six-game suspension without pay, with more if aggravating factors are present, such as the use of a weapon or a crime against a child. A second offense will result in banishment from the NFL.”
But that’s not happening.
Baltimore Ravens starting cornerback Jimmy Smith was suspended for the first three games of the 2018 season for threatening and emotionally abusive behavior toward a former girlfriend. Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham got a one-game suspension for physically assaulting a hotel staff member in Miami. Earlier this year, defensive tackle Roy Miller served a six-game suspension and ultimately retired following an arrest for domestic battery, but Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston was suspended for just three games for sexually assaulting an Uber driver — in keeping with a pattern that began at Florida State University.
In June, two domestic violence experts resigned from the NFL’s Players Association Commission on Violence Prevention, accusing the association of “paying lip service” to domestic violence prevention.
And that’s just this year. The punishments for these crimes are distressingly lax and ridiculously inconsistent, perhaps in part because of the league’s misguided priorities. The NFL can’t seem to enforce the policies already in place, and yet last spring instituted disciplinary measures for player protests during the national anthem. Just a few weeks later, they were forced to walk back the policy due to an outcry from players.
The constant crackdown on protests and substance abuse combined with the relative dismissal of violent offenses effectively demonstrates which behaviors the NFL finds unacceptable and which it’s willing to overlook.
Beat up your girlfriend, punch a service worker or grope an unsuspecting woman? Minor blips. But peaceful protests and drug offenses — those will destroy your career.
Shannen Talbot can be reached at shannen@cheneyfreepress.com.
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