With the 2022-2023 NFL season just right around the corner, the main focus of the preseason hasn’t been on the upcoming season, rather the focus has been on Deshaun Watson, the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback.
Watson is currently facing 24 civil lawsuits that accuse him of sexual misconduct. Originally Watson was given a six-game suspension by the NFL and NFL Players Association disciplinary officer, Sue Robinson. The NFL appealed this decision and ended up giving Watson an 11-game suspension.
While 11 games is a bigger punishment than six games, this is not nearly enough for a player like Watson, and this is just the most recent example of the NFL’s lack of care for sexual assault or domestic violence.
Calvin Ridley, Atlanta Falcons wide receiver, was suspended for a minimum one season with the possibility of it going longer. Ridley wagered $3,900 on six different falcons games that he didn’t play in.
While this is a serious issue, and the NFL does need a no tolerance policy on gambling, the fact that Ridley will serve, at least, an extra six games of suspension is absurd.
This isn’t uncommon for the NFL, however. The NFL has a baseline six-game suspension for sexual assault or domestic violence. The NFL does reserve the right to raise this punishment, but they rarely do.
Unless the NFL gets massive public pushback, they will just hand out the six-game suspension and not give the player anything more. This is the same with any domestic violence case, which happens quite often in the NFL.
According to a 2017 study, from 2000-2014 almost 12% of all player arrests were related to domestic violence. This isn’t a surprise to any NFL fan as it seems every few months there is another player arrested for domestic violence. This cycle continues because the NFL doesn’t properly punish these players.
The NFL makes money from their players playing. When star players play, the TV ratings are higher and the NFL makes more money. This is shown directly with the Watson case.
With his 11-game suspension Watson plays his first game in week 13. This game is against the Houston Texans, the team Watson was drafted by and just traded from. This is a big money “revenge” game for the NFL so of course they want Watson to play, it’ll make them money.
The other thing that has to change is fans’ attitudes towards these players. Sure, there are a good number of fans that do pressure the NFL to properly punish these players, but there is an equal amount, if not more, of fans that still support these players.
There are plenty of tweets or Tik Tok videos that are in support of these players and think players like Watson shouldn’t get any punishment because there are criminal charges against him. Players like Adrian Peterson, who has had numerous charges against him, is still respected in fan’s eyes.
Until both the fans and the NFL itself start changing how they respond to these players we will continue to see players getting away with this.
Mark Warren can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @MarkWarren1832