Yahoo News How the NFL still treats doping almost as seriously as domestic violence
The NFL handed Kareem Hunt an eight-game suspension 10 days ago, after concluding its investigation into the running back’s involvement in a fight at a resort last June. The league was forced into action after TMZ released video footage showing Hunt pushing a woman to the floor and then kicking her, before being held back by two other men. Hunt was not arrested and did not face charges for his actions. In its statement, the NFL said the ban was also in connection with “physical altercations” at Hunt’s residence last February.
The eight-game ban is significant as it’s the first time the NFL has punished a player by more than the “baseline suspension” of six games as stipulated in its Player Conduct Policy for first-time offenders, which it updated in December 2014. Before the NFL ruled on Hunt, the average suspension for first-time offenders of domestic violence, assault, child abuse or sexual abuse had been 3.7 games, since the league updated its policy after its botched handling of the Ray Rice scandal in 2014.
The NFL handed Rice, another star running back at the time, a paltry two-game suspension after it was reported that Rice had struck his then fiancée (they are now married) in an elevator of an Atlantic City casino. After TMZ published a video of Rice dragging an unconscious body out of the elevator, the NFL suspended him indefinitely.
In an email to the Guardian, the NFL said that it makes every effort to obtain relevant video, but does not pay for information. Reacting to videos has become a recurring activity for the NFL.
The NFL said it learned a tremendous amount in 2014, and five years on from Rice, the league has made positive steps in reducing violence and abuse within its league. With Hunt, the NFL made arguably its boldest statement yet. However, in the 20 domestic violence, assault, child abuse and sexual abuse cases since Rice and preceding Hunt, the NFL failed to adhere to its own policy on several occasions. While the NFL states that mitigating factors can reduce the severity of punishment, the average suspension for first-time offenders of the league’s Performance Enhancing Substances and Substances of Abuse policies is 3.5 games, almost identical to the average player conduct suspension. The NFL did maintain that some of the cases in 2015 occurred before the new policy was implemented.
2015: seven players banned for abuse, assault or violence at average of 3.4 games
The highest profile domestic violence ruling of 2015 involved former Pro Bowler Greg Hardy, who was arrested for allegedly strangling his ex-girlfriend, Nicole Holder, throwing her on a couch covered in firearms and threatening to kill her. The charges were eventually dropped after his accuser failed to show up to testify.
Hardy played in the Carolina Panthers’ opening game of the 2014 season, but did not play again that year after he was placed on Goodell’s exempt list. Knowing a lengthy suspension was probable, the Dallas Cowboys signed Hardy to a one-year contract anyway on 18 March.
On 22 April, the NFL suspended Hardy 10 games for “sufficient credible evidence” that his actions violated the league’s policies. But, an appeal led by the NFL Players Association led to the ban being reduced to four games. Neutral arbitrator Harold Henderson said “The egregious conduct exhibited here is indefensible in the NFL. However, 10 games is simply too much, in my view, of an increase over prior cases without notice such as was done last year, when the ‘baseline’ for discipline in domestic violence or sexual assault cases was announced as a six-game suspension.”
Hardy played 12 games in the 2015 season, and hasn’t been signed by another team since his deal with the Cowboys expired. He is now a mixed martial arts fighter.
2016: two players banned for average of 3.5 games
With the controversy of the Rice case still lingering, the NFL bungled yet another domestic violence case, when it handed former New York Giants kicker Josh Brown a one-game suspension for abusing his ex-wife.
In banning Brown, who admitted in his personal journal to having physically, emotionally and verbally abused his ex-wife, for one game Goodell failed to adhere to his own domestic violence policy from 2014. Further entries in Brown’s journal included him saying that he had viewed himself as God, and his ex-wife as his slave. A year later, the NFL suspended Brown an additional six games.
2017: three players banned for average of six games
All three of the suspensions for domestic violence handed out by the NFL in 2017 met the six-game baseline.
The suspended players included Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot, of whom the NFL found “substantial and persuasive evidence” of physical altercations with his then-girlfriend; Michael Bowie of the New York Giants, who police stated grabbed his girlfriend by the neck and threw her to the ground during an argument; and Atlanta Hawks defensive end Ra’Shede Hageman, who pulled the hair of the mother of his child and pushed her down in the parking lot outside of her apartment, causing lacerations to her hand and elbow; and Josh Brown.
2018: seven players banned for average of three games
The NFL was back in the headlines when it once again failed to adhere to its own personal conduct policy, when Roger Goodell suspended Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston three games after concluding that Winston had touched an Uber driver in an inappropriate and sexual manner without her consent. In an email to the Guardian, the NFL said that the disciplinary action was appropriate and necessary.
Baltimore Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith four games for his first domestic violence offense. The Ravens said Smith accepted full responsibility after the NFL found evidence of threatening and emotionally abusive behaviours aimed toward his former girlfriend.
Additionally, former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Trevone Boykin was given a one-game suspension after he was arrested for an aggravated assault with serious bodily injury charge.
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