As of April 2015, over half of the NFL’s second time offenders, in the abuse and personal conduct misconduct categories, are given the exact same suspension length as their punishment in their first offense, a maximum of six games WITH pay (Patra). This in-depth analyzing of the NFL will bring to light some of inconsistent uses of the revised Personal Conduct Policy, as set by the NFL, its commissioner, Roger Goodell, and the NFLPA, or the National Football League Player’s Association. The policies used recently, different examples of abuse and/or violence in the league at this time, and the commissioner’s exempt list are important factors. This article will consist of what the NFL’s policies are today and how they are used inconsistently, …show more content…
In 2014, Outside The Lines study showed that the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy didn’t force a suspension following an arrest or even after a conviction until 2000. Out of the 48 players ruled guilty of a violence charge between 2000 and 2014, the commissioner only suspended “eighty-eight percent of cases” for one game or less, even though the policy he agreed on specifically states that any player convicted of a crime must be suspended for a …show more content…
The NFL’s current personal conduct policy states, “All persons associated with the NFL are required to avoid ‘conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League.’ This requirement applies to players, coaches, other team employees, owners, game officials, and all others privileged to work in the NFL. Criminal offenses including, but not limited to, those involving: the use or threat of violence; domestic violence and other forms of partner abuse; theft and other property crimes” (NFL Personal Conduct Policy). With this policy stated, with other cases such as Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson in mind, you should be able to comprehend why the NFL is treating not only a chosen few, but the mass of all players, coaches, etc, unfairly and unjustly. Revising the policy won’t necessarily help, as a result of the Wilkinson and Walker cases of the 1990s, the NFL revised its then weakening discipline system but didn’t help slowing down the crimes, with 48 cases from then till now. The only legitimate decision that needs to be made is to find and hire a new commissioner who does what he says he’ll do, with domestic violence and player discipline as the first thing on his mind. The NFL needs someone who won’t mess around, beat around the bush, or give the runaround to this policy, the
The NFL position in this article makes them look very greedy and indifferent about the overall health of their football players. One of the ethical perspectives that can be used to analyze the NFL's position in this article is deontology. Deontology is the perspective where rules is the defining factor for ethical decisions. From the deontology perspective it makes it seem that the NFL has decided not to follow the rules and even blurred the lines as to what potential injuries their players can get. They wanted their injured players to play without having to follow through the with proper procedure in verifying that the players are in conditions healthy enough to play. It looks as if the NFL cares only about bringing in money and not care about
America’s newfound favorite pastime, football, came from a bizarre chain of events. Football started when a soccer player got fed up with just kicking the ball, so he picked up the ball and ran to the goal. His actions of picking up the ball and running with it fathered a new European sport, rugby, which was soon brought over to American shores, and was altered slightly, the shape of the ball and a few other small rules. The sport became organized into a league and produced the NFL(National Football League). The NFL had a slow beginning, but has picked up popularity, currently having a 9 billion dollar yearly revenue. Playing football comes with great costs, including physical and mental health deterioration, plus the amount of time spent prepping before game day. Which can pose several questions, “Why suffer for a game, Is it worth the money? Is it worth the fame? How great is the cost?” I believe that football, should have stricter regulations for the treatment of injuries, along with informing players of just how devastating a concussion can be, along with the other major injuries that commonly occur while playing football.
Even though athletes get special treatment they never think about how them getting off easy can back fire. The Ray Rice case is a prime example of how it was a downfall in their career. Rice got released from the Baltimore ravens and since then he has not play football. The NFL suspended him indefinitely, but it was later lifted because he did not lie to the commissioner about the domestic violence case. He was free to play again, but no team signed him because it was going to come with a ton of backlash and no team wanted to deal with that because it would have been a distraction to the team. Also, many people lost respect for Rice for putting his hands on a women. No one would look at him the same anymore. He has yet to sign with any team since the incident took
The NFL in particular is known for its focus on order, power and control, where operations are anonymous and interchangeable. With that players and employees are none else than compliant with league regulations. In this case Colin Kaepernick’s protest had the ability to go against the grain and break the façade of being afraid to voice his opinions. Today’s generation has become very open to sharing their opinions on social issues and Kapernick’s protest is just an addition. This protest instantly became political because of the fact that police brutality and racial is becoming a persistently uncomfortable issue that our country is facing. Every single there is something new about citizens being killed by the police for no reason, including recent cases such as Philando Castle and Terence Crutcher. Such issues will not be resolved until our society stands against it as a whole. It takes public figures such as Colin Kaepernick to stand with citizens to bring awareness about these issues in order to force change in the government and society. Whether industry leaders like it or not, I believe that such protest will continue to grow. Athletes and entertainers will continue to voice their opinions about social issues until changes come into effect.
them. Players must be responsible for themselves because the NFL has made the game safer for
coaches should also get in trouble for their role in the deflation. The coaches let this happen and they know that the NFL is totally against it.
At the same time players like Matt Forte, running back for the Chicago Bears, believes that all of these rules are becoming an issue (Dunkak). Dunkak can argue that every rule is contradicting to what the offense does and what the defense does. For instance Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions Defensive Tackle, was sued for a hit on quarterback, Brandon Weeden, from the Cleveland Browns. The hit appeared to be a “clean hit,” as Suh put his helmet in the middle of Weeden’s chest to take him down. Nonetheless, the NFL made it illegal to use any part of a players’ helmet to violently take down an opponent. Also, Detroit Lions Kicker, David Akers, compares the NFL to a golden goose by saying if you change it too many times, all of the sudden you do not have that great of a product
Do you think media coverage of the National Football League is fair? The media has been interfering with players personal life and it is not ok. Such as the incident with Johnny Manziel, Jerry Rice, and Adrian Peterson. Johnny Manziel committed domestic violence against his girl friend, Jerry Rice punched his girlfriend, and Adrian Peterson committed child abuse. In addition to those crimes there have been many more. These issues have all dealt with law breaking, and media tells the public. This is interfering with player careers, it’s putting pressure on the NFL, and also affecting many youth football leagues. The media coverage of the NFL’s problems is not fair because the NFL has bigger problems to worry about, players are leaving teams, and parents are not letting there kids play football.
NFL players have been known to get into bar fights, drive while intoxicated, and drive under the influence. In 2013 alone, 30 players were arrested and 10 of them received DUI’s. According to Jay Coakley, “Deviance occurs when a person’s ideas, traits, or actions are perceived by others to fall outside their normal range of acceptance in society” (...
IV. Review of the Rooney Rule Robert Gulliver, the NFL’s executive vice president of human resources, released this statement last year concerning the Rooney Rule: “While there has been full compliance with the interview requirements of the Rooney Rule and we wish the new head coaches and general managers much success, the hiring results this year have been unexpected and reflect a disappointing lack of diversity. The Rooney Rule has been a valuable tool in expanding diversity and inclusion in hiring practices, but there is more work to do, especially around increasing and strengthening the pipeline of diverse candidates for head coach and senior football executive positions.
A penalty flag is down for a growing number of professional athletes. Some, accused of domestic violence, others charged with assault. What has caused this sudden increase in domestic violence by professional athletes? Nothing. There has not been any increase at all. Professional athletes have been beating and abusing women for a long, long time. Years ago, a lady called 911 and said that her husband was beating her. She wanted to file a report, but then asked the dispatcher if it was going to be in the paper the next day. When the dispatcher did not reply, the woman changes her mind about the report and hangs up (Cart). The woman was Sun Bonds, wife of professional athlete, Barry Bonds. Like the wives of other famous players, she was a victim of spousal abuse. Professional athletes are praised as heroes for what they do on the playing field, but what they do off the field is NEVER mentioned. As a very disappointed sports fan, I want to draw attention to the domestic violence cases that involve athletes.
This issue could cause a lot of conflict and could take a turn for the worse if not addressed properly. If addressed the wrong way it could be as bad as the Ferguson riots that happened a few years ago. I believe that the best thing for the NFL to do is let the players continue to do this and eventually they will stop. All of these players are very gifted and extremely luck that they are getting paid a lot of money to do something that they love. All in all, I believe that these players are mainly looking for attention and if we all just ignore them they will eventually stop what they are doing and realize what a great country they live
After thoroughly evaluating the positives and negatives impacting the sport entity, The NFL is really in a tough position by far. More and more players continually are being diagnosed and the worst part about it is, to fix the issue of retired players being exposed to this disease the league must fix its current game. Roger Goodell is in a tough position because like Bernard stated if you are going to practice the “safety rule” in today’s day and age, defensive players are going to be more concerned about getting fined then making the plays for its respective team. The game will lose integrity. The NFL must find a way were it can coup with everything because yes older players are suffering, current players are displeased, but what’s going to happen when parents turn away from football? The NFL may see it’s last snap.
In the legal aspect of things, the NFL can be held responsible for these injuries. It is not up to the players themselves to be provided the equipment that they wear, it’s the NFL’s. If this equipment is faulty, or is not protecting the players as they should, then they need to accept responsibility for this. Many have said it’s the players fault because they choose to do this line of work. They may have chosen the job, but they did not choose to get hurt in such a significant manner. As previously stated, this is another class act of getting hurt on the job.
This is such a huge problem that has a very simple and precise solution, education. You do not have to be the smartest person in the room or the person most willing to write a check, but you do need to surround yourself with individuals that have only one interest and that is to educate you and protect your money. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at risk and the simple task of educating players can make the difference in the overall happiness of these select individuals and give the NFL a better image among those who have retired from the