2017 NFL Preseason Thread: Ki-Jana Carter edition

Police statement details Roethlisberger's alleged assault - CNN.com

Police release "hundreds of documents" detailing Roethlisberger's disgusting behavior that night, but you think they were protecting him? Goodell levied an unprecedented penalty for incidents in which no charges are filed and maybe he should have done more, but no player at Roethlisberger's level was going to be blackballed regardless of color. Your post also shows a lack of knowledge regarding the othr accusation. You should look it up.

I'm not saying Roethlisberger is a good guy and I've never really bought the claims that he has cleaned up his behavior. Sorry for the digression. This is all very fresh in my mind. I had a long talk with my daughter about it last night. She has taken more of an interest in football lately and Roethlisberger's history came up, so I explained the history of it.

Also, QYFY raises a good point by bringing up Ray Lewis.

 

Geno played better than Josh Johnson.

TheNFL needs to stop punishing players as a league. Have a defined list that makes one eligible to sign a contract. Once a contract is signed the only power the NFL, as a league, should have is to punish players for violating the rules of the game. Thrown out of a game for unsportsmanlike conduct? X amount of game suspension. Injuring another player intentionally or malicious conduct? X amount of games. Cheating or fixing games? X amount of games.

Off-field issues? That should be left up to the team. Want a guy on Pretrial release for murder to play SUnday? He's your employee, its the team's call.

 

The NFL doesn't have to do shit.

The players gotta hold out and get it out of the union contract.

 

I hope they get it out of the contract. As long as they're not in jail, let them play. Stop the phoney display of morality from the NFL.

 

It's in the players' interest to have an* off-field conduct policy in the contract.

*Note I didn't use the word "this" ...

 

They'll have to hold out to do it.

That means enough of them will have to have been responsible enough with their money to be able to hold out.

 

And the bold part is why they won't hold out or strike.

 

As we throw out the "they can't be responsible" stereotypes, it's worth keeping in mind: most players are not making millions and the average career is about three years. They are extremely expendable. For a huge percentage of these guys, being "responsible" enough to hold out long enough to instigate a change means forfeiting much or all of their careers. That's why the NFL union is so much weaker than the other sports.

 

That may be fine, but league is ill equipped to enforce the policy.

 

This is fair. I should have added one more sentence to the above, which would be this:

"And most of the NFL players don't have to worry about getting suspended for personal conduct issues, so they'd be holding out on principle for the handful who do get suspended, some of whom are guilty as hell for the things they've been accused of doing."

But, to be clear, many pro athletes spend their money poorly. It's a spending culture.

 

Agreed. It is also in the individual teams' best interest. That puts the burden of player discipline in these instances on the league office.

Of course, the problem comes when owners don't like what the league decides. We saw that with the Brady suspension. The owners have to actually respect the process they put in place for it to work. That is why Robert Kraft's decision to fail to keep his word was damaging to the league. Goodell badly botched things, but so did Kraft.

 

It's an age thing, I think. If I'd had that much money in my 20s, I'd probably be broke now at best.