NFL - Random Opinions

I don’t really like Ben. I don’t think there’s a legal avenue for the league to permanently suspend players who settle lawsuits without any criminal charges being filed. If they had video evidence there would be criminal charges . If the league wasn’t going to suspend Watson for life, I don’t know who they would have besides Aaron Hernandez and Ray Carruthe. Weed used to be more detrimental to their careers than sex crime. I

 

It's a tough slope because rape is difficult to prosecute, even if the victim testifies. Imagine having to recall such a horrific violation of your person in front of a courtroom of people and then have your moral character assassinated via cross examination. It's why many women just suffer in silence. If it's someone like Ben or Watson, civil recourse may be the best option, so there may never be charges.

That's where the NFL needs to really focus on this matter and evaluate how this is handled despite the absence of a legal outcome.

In all candor, I have no clue what to do.

 

I think the league doesn’t take these matters serious enough, Ben and Watson should both have been suspended longer than they were. I would say minimum of one season because they send the wrong message when they slap these guys on the wrist. They should be able to force them to play for fifty percent pay and use the money for victims of sex crimes to get whatever is needed to help them get back to as normal as they possibly can. At least the police are not giving them the celebrity treatment anymore. Players used to get the get out of jail free cards from the police.

 

Part of the problem is how the civil system has been twisted so that frivolous cases can be brought, and it's cheaper for the defending party to settle than to fight, in some cases. That can create an air of guilt, even if someone has committed no crime.

That's not my way of victim shaming, so anyone that reads it that way can kindly find the nearest exit.

It's simply a matter of truth, and that has to be baked into the equation when you are talking about taking away a person's livelihood.

If there are charges brought and the player is convicted, then suspending him for life would be appropriate because they are an employee of a public entity that has just cause for terminating employment.

If there are charges brought and the player is found innocent then, IMO, the league should suspend that player throughout the duration of the trial with the player being able to collect on lost wages after being cleared of all charges. I know some won't like this, but if the guy is found innocent than he needs to have a course of recompense.

If there are charges brought and the player deals down to a lesser offense, then we get into a gray area that may have to work around details of individual charges, but the league would still have grounds for permanent termination.

Now, when it comes to civil matters...

If the league decided to suspend a player throughout the ongoing litigation, this would create a potential legal nightmare for the NFL if the player is found to be inculpable of the alleged crime and does not have to pay any restitution. This would give the player an opportunity to seek recompense from the league for more than his actual earnings through the same legal levers.

This is why, IMO, the league simply has to stand by and let the civil matters play themselves out without going all in on ending a player's career. Because of the ambiguity involved in civil trials, there is nothing concrete the league can fall back on if they have to go into a civil matter to defend themselves for unrightful termination.

I believe that's why the suspensions feel like 'wrist slaps' in comparison to the crimes the players are civilly accused of, because it's the only option the league really has to work with.

 

Yeah, that pass was born completely from Richardson being way to damn casual. He never sets, steps or attempts to adjust his arm angle. He simply flicks his wrist from a low sidearm pivot that would make 'Teke' Tekulve proud.

The Josh Allen comp is pretty lofty, but I can see your line of thinking on it.

I had Vince Young as a comp stylistically. Similar throwing motion, similar movement, similar build and similar positive/negatives.

For the record - I still believe Vince had all the tools to be a solid NFL quarterback, but the cheesecake diet he was on combined with a poor work ethic that may or may not have been influenced by the fact that Jeff Fisher did not want him on the roster (and Fisher also failed with Goff), made it so that I had to watch him slowly become a shadow of his potential.

That's the biggest two rubs on draft prognostication.

1. We don't personally know these kids so how they approach being a professional is a crapshoot

2. The landing spot impact on a player's growth is something we have to wildly speculate on, in most cases

 

It looks like Chicago is the killing fields for QBs. Unfortunately it’s their own QBs not the oppositions. I have watched Fields now in 3 games as a Steeler and he is a much different player in the black and gold. I’m really surprised because I didn’t believe Tomlin had it in him to allow a Quarterback to be groomed under him. But he finally got an OC in Smith that knows how to run things to the Quarterback’s strengths and not force him to play to his weaknesses. I firmly believe that the Steelers screwed the pooch when they declined Fields fifth year option. It would have at least provided 1 more prove it season before they would have to shell out the big bucks.

 

It's a gamble. If I recall, it was 25mill. If he lights it up, he's got cash coming and maybe its from the Steelers. On the other hand, there are cheaper options out there almost every year. Just look at Wilson.

 

We are going to agree on most of what you Posted above, not all, but most.

I want to address this particular passage. The criminal aspect should be black and white, the problem is, the league is more interested in giving the teams an opportunity to capitalize on star power, that they down play criminal issues. After a series of suspensions, the players are allowed back into the league.

The course of action taken in criminal cases is what gives the players union a basis of argument against civil cases.

The CBA gives the league an out in all of these matters, with language “conduct detrimental to the league” spread throughout disciplinary sections. However, their own reluctance to follow that language has set a precedence backflow that would take years to make new policy legal. The only way to jump years ahead is for new language with actual rules in place for the next CBA negotiations. If they were serious, they could take measures now of having as many pages pre-written to establish actual guidelines for both criminal cases and even non-criminal acts that are detrimental to the “Shield”.

I get that there is not a lot the league can do to ban a player with the precedence set before them. However, people like Watson who was in the middle of THE worst civil cases in history when they allowed the Browns contract could have been weeded out, simply by not allowing the contract to happen. THAT should be on the Browns and all owners.. don’t make offers to the worst kind of humans. If they can’t do anything about Kaepernick for not kneeling and getting black balled, I really don’t think they could do anything to a guy with 20+ civil cases settled out of court for sexual misconduct.

Watson should have gone down as one of the most talented players in league history to never play again. Instead he is now being exposed for the fraud he is. The moment he signed that contract he stopped caring about the team, the league and the game of football. So now Watson will go down in history as the sexual predator that the league and the Browns allowed to make $230M despite knowing his evil inner self. It exposed the league further as an entity that values talent over all else.

I always thought greed would eventually be the downfall of Pro Sports, but with fans like Gid, they will continue to thrive. I’m no better.. though I am spending about 10% on the league now over what I used to spend pre-Watson, I’m still spending that 10%.

 

Half the league screwed the pooch when they failed to properly evaluate Fields' time in Chicago. In terms of more contract commitment from the Steelers maybe they should have maybe they shouldn't, but they still got it more right than a lot of other teams with a need at the position.

There's a lot left to play out this season. Things are going well for the Steelers right now, but i don't think the leash is long. Personally I still expect to see Wilson out there at some point and not cos of injury. We'll see.

But if Fields does keep it going and finish with a strong season, i'm not necessarily sure the Steelers would be priced out of Fields. I don't wanna use that over-used term "home town discount", but i could see Fields wanting to stay in Pitt and not necessarily just chasing the biggest $.

Remember, the Bears gave Fields a lot of power to choose his own destiny re teams this year. Far too much imo cos it hurt the Bears draft comp, but nevertheless, it tells us he wanted to be in Pitt and rumor was Tomlin had plenty to do with that. IF he finishes with a good season, IF he's comfortable in that building and IF the Steelers didn't get silly cheap on the money side, i could totally see Fields staying there on a longer contract.

 

Yes stylistically i totally get you. I more meant their general games entering the league.

Young was considered far more pro ready than either of those two entering the league. He had way more experience than Richardson coming out of college. I think Young might even have won OROY his first season?

It can be easily forgotten now, but Allen was considered the biggest boom or bust candidate of that 1st round. Still had a lot of development to do as a passer and was generally pretty awful his rookie season in that sense. A lot of that applies to Richardson as well, tho i'd say he is even more imposing than Allen as a runner which is hard to do heh.

Landing spot is without doubt the most under-appreciated factor both in QB development and said analysis of such. A glaring example of which is already staring us in the face with Williams/Daniels.

I guess point 1 is affected by money/fame. Cos you can prob get a good handle on general work ethic from college research, which all things being equal would translate every time. They're doing the same stuff in terms of learning/preparing that they do in college. Its the distractions that are increased in the pros. Maybe NIL money has an impact on this in future? Don't have a big grasp on that myself.

 

I get what you're saying, but it goes back to the original rub - How do you justify stripping a person of their right to earn in their chosen profession over a civil situation that does not include criminal charges?

There is simply no legal way to do that from a front office standpoint.

Now, if the owners want to get together and decide not to sign a player or to limit the potential earnings of an individual, then you have a collusion case that would play out in a civil proceeding, and that player may have a case.

I don't want to get too far into the weeds with Kaepernick, but people forget that he was benched for poor performance before everything else started playing out. There is a difference there in what GMs, coaches and owners would see in the career arc of Kap and Watson. It's easy for a team to pass on a player that brings potential headaches in any form if they are not highly productive on the field. If that matter were to play out in a civil proceeding, everyone associated could simply point to the stat sheet and say they had limited to no interest in the 'player'.

The Watson civil cases are ugly. They read anywhere between inappropriate activity to beyond fucking serial creepy behavior, but that is part of the problem. The gap between what his attorneys present compared to what the victims present make it impossible for the league to justify permanent suspension, and if the owners opted to not sign him there is a case for collusion.

We absolutely agree on the contract, and that falls at the feet of a desperate owner. Haslam should have just bowed out when the price went up and let him move onto another roster. Considering the other things that have gone on around Jimmy in his business dealings, he doesn't come off as the most scrupulous of characters...

 

Gotcha.

And I agree with that.

I also agree on Vince being a more polished player.

That style comp simply comes from putting on the video of them side by side. I think AR can be a good player in the NFL, but they need to get him locked into certain habits quickly.

And never introduce him to the Cheesecake Factory...

Money is definitely an issue, but sometimes the info that circles around about players can be ambiguous at best and outright lies at the worst.

I never cared for Manziel as a player, but he did have flags going into the draft when it came to character concerns, so Cleveland had an idea what they were getting.

There were zero rumors about Ryan Leaf's issues entering the league.

Then you have the Antonio Brown type of character... He was not afraid of hard work, produced on the field and was bat shit fucking crazy. Some of that came with the money and fame, some of that likely came from head trauma (Vontaze Burfict), but it was a slow build up to a nuclear level implosion.

Zay Jones might be the easiest example of how little we know about some of these guys coming into the league. He had a full skill set, performed well at the combine, was lauded as a hard worker and had solid college production. He entered the league and appeared to be transitioning at an average pace, but there was an underlying mental issue that few people were aware of that all came out in one bloody naked hotel wrestling match with his brother. Here was a guy that had finally made it into the league that was still ready to jump out a 30-story window.

There are always going to be certain aspects of a player's profile that we are not going to be privy to. It's just part of the equation that we have to accept.

That's why I just slap people on the back for getting correct calls and try not to drown them over missing one.

 

Zay Jones might be the easiest example of how little we know about some of these guys coming into the league. He had a full skill set, performed well at the combine, was lauded as a hard worker and had solid college production. He entered the league and appeared to be transitioning at an average pace, but there was an underlying mental issue that few people were aware of that all came out in one bloody naked hotel wrestling match with his brother. Here was a guy that had finally made it into the league that was still ready to jump out a 30-story window.


Well said Campbell................sometimes I wonder with players today that they struggled in school and their parents could not afford to feed them ?

It's like they go from the Outhouse to the Penthouse when they are drafted into the NFL......and it really screws them up......Money is Power.

 

I understand your point, but none of that applies to Zay's childhood experience.

 

I think the most desperate team with a must win game on this Sunday ought to be the Cincinatti Bengals. Yes, Im going out on a limb here.

 

Brian Flores must surely be in a HC gig next season, and as a long time fan it won't be a moment too soon. It should be a lock but given how he's been treated by the league i'd downgrade it to "very likely".

 

He’d make a great coach in Pittsburgh or Chicago.

 

Anyone elses phone not working?

 

I would've rather they hired him than Eberflush. Hoping for an Offensive minded HC in Jan tho

 

Thats weird. Do you think its finally started?