At long last, the NFL offseason has come to a close. It is now the time of year when couches across America have butt prints, TVs have NFL Redzone burned into the screen, and there is a weekly feast of queso, wings, beer, and the like. Somewhat unfortunately, however, the NFL is a business and is therefore run by old men in suits, with many of them valuing revenue streams far more than Super Bowl rings (shoutout to Jerry Jones). That being said, there is an appointed commissioner to oversee all happenings. Since 2006, that man has been Roger Goodell.
With Goodell being at the top of the NFL executive ladder, he gets the final say when meting punishment in response to these incidents, oftentimes disregarding judicial rulings. The NFL recently established the position of a Disciplinary Officer who adheres to the Personal Conduct Policy outlined in the 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the players’ association. However, the discipline imposed by this officer is subject to appeal to the commissioner, in which Goodell effectively becomes judge, jury, and executioner. This makes the Disciplinary Officer merely an extension of Goodell, only existing to minimize his potential workload. The only power Goodell does not have is to impose punishment on an individual or organization which was not punished by the officer. The sad reality of this setup is that player misconduct has become so commonplace, that a whole position had to be created in order to take the stress off the commissioner.
Despite these additional systems, Goodell has not removed himself from the scrutiny of the public. Much of this has to do with the debate over how he deals with punishment. Many would say that Goodell picks an arbitrary fine and/or suspension without putting much weight on what those involved are being punished for, an opinion that has caught fire over the past several years. To assess the validity of this claim, there are three recent controversies that must be addressed.
First on the chopping block is Atlanta Falcons wide receiver, Calvin Ridley. After the first five games of the 2021 season, Ridley stepped away from the team to focus on his mental health. It was later found that during that time, Ridley had placed bets on NFL games. After an investigation by the league, Goodell suspended Ridley indefinitely, with the minimum being at least the entire 2022 season. While players betting on their sport can be quickly viewed in a negative light, there are several factors to consider. While new reports have surfaced in recent months, Ridley was said to have only bet a total of $1500, mere pocket change for a player of his status. Furthermore, while Ridley bet on multiple Falcons games, all of those bets were that Atlanta would win. This is where Goodell’s suspension is called into question with many saying the suspension should be far less. Betting that his own team would win is a far cry from the MLB’s ‘Black Sox’ scandal that occurred over a century ago. That being said, those players threw the World Series and were suspended for life which shows that, while being a separate sporting league, there is a precedent that the NFL was possibly following.
From one aspect of Vegas to another, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was suspended for the first six games of the 2022 season for violating the NFL’s Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) policy. Hopkins was quoted saying, “…it was Ostarine, and there was 0.1% of it found in my system. If you know what that is, it’s contamination, not something directly taken.” Hopkins is right in this because while Ostarine is not FDA approved, it is found in supplements taken by athletes. It is Hopkins’ responsibility, however, to know what is in certain supplements to not chance failing a league drug test. That is the only explanation for the NFL’s relatively tame suspension of six games.
Then there was the biggest player drama of the 2022 NFL offseason: Quarterback Deshaun Watson. Watson had already been deactivated by the Houston Texans for the entire 2021 season following over twenty accusations of sexual assaults and harassment taking place across the Houston area dating back to 2019. Even with all this controversy, Houston was able to rid them of Watson and his questionable status when he was traded to the Cleveland Browns in March. Despite Watson and the Texans making settlements with thirty women, the Disciplinary Officer made her first-ever decision and suspended Watson for six games. That’s not the end, however, as the issues with the Disciplinary Officer would immediately start to show. The NFL itself would appeal the suspension and Goodell, while having the option to hear the appeal himself, appointed former New Jersey attorney general Peter C. Harvey, to hear the league’s argument. This resulted in Watson’s suspension being raised to eleven games, as well as Watson being tagged with a $5 million fine.
This is far different from the first two suspensions that have been discussed. In those cases, there is debate over the severity of punishment but that is unavoidable. At least in those situations, the league made a choice which was firm and honored. That was not the case here. It also creates an interesting scenario where the NFL essentially hears its own appeal. Yes, Watson was in legal trouble, but regardless there is a massive conflict of interest. Especially when one observes the 2022 schedule. Now that he is suspended for eleven games, Watson’s first game in almost two years will be against… the Houston Texans. Eleven being a departure from traditional, even number game suspensions then become even more suspicious with this in mind.
Quite frankly, it is shocking the NFLPA would ever agree to this. It cannot be stated enough that all these players had either legal issues or violated league policies, however, the variety of punishment exposes glaring flaws. Unfortunately, there are too many variables (money players bet, number of civil cases, etc.) in every incident to make a specific punishment for a specific infraction. That being said, standardization must become a higher priority for the league so that there are fewer appeals, players are aware of what penalties they face, and these situations stay out of the limelight.
Ultimately, the best-case scenario would be that players stay out of trouble, and then the NFL would not have to be constantly bogged down in discipline with Goodell acting like a school principal. Unfortunately, football is a brutal game and the universal truth that these players are imperfect beings makes controversy unavoidable. The never-ending conflict from now until the end of time will be minimizing these issues and keeping the entertainment to what is on the field.