Adrian Peterson suspended rest of season

[FreeTedWilliams]

Once again, the NFL is completely arbitrary in its decisions and set another bad precedent!

So if you are the next NFL player who gets arrested and placed on the Commish's "exempt" list. You have absolutely no need to complete your criminal case quickly, in fact, you are rewarded financially if you drag it out as long as possible (which we all know is very easy), and something lawyers love to do (it's all about billable hours and not justice- lawyer's creed).

Legally after his probation period is over, Peterson will not have a criminal conviction, yet his suspension will be 15 games long!

Now compare that to the Ray Lewis' suspension. Again, its just bad policy.

 

[pwes]

Oh I would love to know which places these are that are outraged. "I GOT THE **** BEAT OUT OF ME AND I TURNED OUT FINE" posts, no doubt.

Mostly PFT where a lot of people are freaking out over it. Not many directly rationalizing the abuse but complaining that he should be reinstated immediately with no further repercussions. Getting paid to sit on your ass for 11 weeks is not punishment.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

good....scumbag

 

[Oswlek]

Once again, the NFL is completely arbitrary in its decisions and set another bad precedent!

So if you are the next NFL player who gets arrested and placed on the Commish's "exempt" list. You have absolutely no need to complete your criminal case quickly, in fact, you are rewarded financially if you drag it out as long as possible (which we all know is very easy), and something lawyers love to do (it's all about billable hours and not justice- lawyer's creed).

Legally after his probation period is over, Peterson will not have a criminal conviction, yet his suspension will be 15 games long!

Now compare that to the Ray Lewis' suspension. Again, its just bad policy.

All punishments are arbitrary on some level. I'm also not comfortable comparing one suspension to another that was obviously off base; why base future decisions off of prior mistakes?

Granted a 15 game suspension is out of line with historic precedent - even recent history - but it should be noted that only the final six games would be unpaid.

Not directed at you, but I've heard a few mention how easy it is to pass judgement on players from other teams, but I think that is a non sequitur. If it was found out that Tom Brady had done something similar to his children, I would want him cut immediately.

 

[sieglo]

Torn about this. Part of me never wants him to ever play again. The other part of me thinks this is typical reactionary move by the NFL who looks the other way on domestic abuse for years and after the public finally calls them out on it, they go overboard in the other direction.

If Peterson did this last year, he probably would have gotten an 1-2 game suspension at most. Post Ray Rice, he has gotten a year suspension with 9 games with pay.

Again, I think Peterson should never play again, but it took Ray Rice to get the league to make any hardline stance on domestic violence.

This. ^^^^

 

[Ring 6]

Once again, the NFL is completely arbitrary in its decisions and set another bad precedent!

So if you are the next NFL player who gets arrested and placed on the Commish's "exempt" list. You have absolutely no need to complete your criminal case quickly, in fact, you are rewarded financially if you drag it out as long as possible (which we all know is very easy), and something lawyers love to do (it's all about billable hours and not justice- lawyer's creed).

Legally after his probation period is over, Peterson will not have a criminal conviction, yet his suspension will be 15 games long!

Now compare that to the Ray Lewis' suspension. Again, its just bad policy.

I'm not sure we should be concerned that the next player who beats his child has a case study to go to in order to know what his punishment will be.
This is (to my knowledge) the first child abuse arrest case the NFL has dealt with.
The NFL is NOT a court, and is not interested in justice. They do not have to be.
They are an organization that gets involved in these matters in order to protect their image, which as far as thuggery is not good.
What I have heard is that they were prepared to allow him to return in December, but this decision is based upon him making comments that what he did was not wrong, implying he would do it again, and refusing to get help or counseling.
If you owned a company and your employees were in the public eye and one got arrested for beating his kid, showed no real remorse and refused to get counseling, help or even admit he shouldn't have done it, you would publicly announce that your company embraces him and brings him back with a huge welcome?

 

[Jack Handy]

For those saying getting a 6 game suspension makes it seem like well he is only going to miss 6 games that is fair since he was paid for the other ones. To put this in perspective the penalty is going to be $4,147,058 or 35% of his yearly salary.

When I heard abiut this suspension my first thought was doesn't the nfl understand the can of worms they refuse to close. It should be this simple 1) determine the categories of infractions (DUI, 1st degree misd, 2nd degree misd, felony..........); 2) Base the penalty on what someone gets convicted of (DUI = 2 games); 3) collect bargin the list; 4) enforce the list no exceptions or add ons. This way if a player gets caught then the argument is that the rules are in print shut up we will see u when the suspension is over.

 

[Oswlek]

For those saying getting a 6 game suspension makes it seem like well he is only going to miss 6 games that is fair since he was paid for the other ones. To put this in perspective the penalty is going to be $4,147,058 or 35% of his yearly salary.

When I heard abiut this suspension my first thought was doesn't the nfl understand the can of worms they refuse to close. It should be this simple 1) determine the categories of infractions (DUI, 1st degree misd, 2nd degree misd, felony..........); 2) Base the penalty on what someone gets convicted of (DUI = 2 games); 3) collect bargin the list; 4) enforce the list no exceptions or add ons. This way if a player gets caught then the argument is that the rules are in print shut up we will see u when the suspension is over.

I don't agree with everything here, but I have to say... those are some really deep thoughts.

 

[mayoclinic]

When I heard abiut this suspension my first thought was doesn't the nfl understand the can of worms they refuse to close. It should be this simple 1) determine the categories of infractions (DUI, 1st degree misd, 2nd degree misd, felony..........); 2) Base the penalty on what someone gets convicted of (DUI = 2 games); 3) collect bargin the list; 4) enforce the list no exceptions or add ons. This way if a player gets caught then the argument is that the rules are in print shut up we will see u when the suspension is over.

Q: What do the NFL's conduct policy and the NFL's officiating have in common?

A: They make the rules up as they go.

 

[patchick]

When I heard abiut this suspension my first thought was doesn't the nfl understand the can of worms they refuse to close. It should be this simple 1) determine the categories of infractions (DUI, 1st degree misd, 2nd degree misd, felony..........); 2) Base the penalty on what someone gets convicted of (DUI = 2 games); 3) collect bargin the list; 4) enforce the list no exceptions or add ons. This way if a player gets caught then the argument is that the rules are in print shut up we will see u when the suspension is over.

The problem with that approach is that the NFL isn't (and shouldn't be) in the position of determining an employee's offense against society. They're in the position of determining the employee's offense against the NFL and its image.

Take the use of hate speech, which the government cannot punish. Doesn't the NFL have to make a judgment call on that? And shouldn't they treat a player who, say, uses a single anti-black or anti-gay slur differently from one who makes a long, public rant about how those groups should burn in Hell?

And what if the NFL simply hadn't had the twisted foresight to make a category for a particular offense, like viciously and unrepentantly beating small children?

EDIT: Just want to clarify that I'm not defending the way they've handled recent cases, particularly the Ray Rice fiasco. I just don't think a solution will be simple.

 

[Deus Irae]

Goodell being an idiot, again

 

[tasmlab]

The story seems confusing because it seems like some people want to think that his suspension is about justice or sportmanship. From the NFL's perspective, it should probably be about their own branding. In that view, I would think he'd be permanently out of the league. Why have a known child abuser on payroll?

Donte Stallworth and Vick remain though.

What AP did is worse than what Rice did. The power differential is much greater between a man and a preschooler, and the child has no ability to leave the relationship. Regardless of what the NFL does, I doubt the beatings will stop, which is really the outcome anyone could want from a justice perspective, barring restitution of some sort.

Hope he never plays again and gets some intensive therapy.

 

[tasmlab]

I'm not sure we should be concerned that the next player who beats his child has a case study to go to in order to know what his punishment will be.
This is (to my knowledge) the first child abuse arrest case the NFL has dealt with.
The NFL is NOT a court, and is not interested in justice. They do not have to be.
They are an organization that gets involved in these matters in order to protect their image, which as far as thuggery is not good.
What I have heard is that they were prepared to allow him to return in December, but this decision is based upon him making comments that what he did was not wrong, implying he would do it again, and refusing to get help or counseling.
If you owned a company and your employees were in the public eye and one got arrested for beating his kid, showed no real remorse and refused to get counseling, help or even admit he shouldn't have done it, you would publicly announce that your company embraces him and brings him back with a huge welcome?

Oops, I retyped your post using different words before I saw this. My thoughts exactly.

 

[Galeb]

Torn about this. Part of me never wants him to ever play again. The other part of me thinks this is typical reactionary move by the NFL who looks the other way on domestic abuse for years and after the public finally calls them out on it, they go overboard in the other direction.

If Peterson did this last year, he probably would have gotten an 1-2 game suspension at most. Post Ray Rice, he has gotten a year suspension with 9 games with pay.

Again, I think Peterson should never play again, but it took Ray Rice to get the league to make any hardline stance on domestic violence.

If you're worried about the motivations behind NFL decisions, you're barking up the wrong tree. The NFL is an organization that is 100% focused on increasing revenue. Whether their decisions are reactionary or not, the motivation never changes.

 

[Jack Handy]

The problem with that approach is that the NFL isn't (and shouldn't be) in the position of determining an employee's offense against society. They're in the position of determining the employee's offense against the NFL and its image.

Take the use of hate speech, which the government cannot punish. Doesn't the NFL have to make a judgment call on that? And shouldn't they treat a player who, say, uses a single anti-black or anti-gay slur differently from one who makes a long, public rant about how those groups should burn in Hell?

And what if the NFL simply hadn't had the twisted foresight to make a category for a particular offense, like viciously and unrepentantly beating small children?

EDIT: Just want to clarify that I'm not defending the way they've handled recent cases, particularly the Ray Rice fiasco. I just don't think a solution will be simple.

Without clearly defined guidelines on what will be punished and how, the NFL will continue to be in a position of having to defend if their punishments are fair and consistent. My concern with the Rice case is that the NFL chose to come down hard on domestic abuse but was silent on other stuff like child abuse. Lets say 6 games is the new punishment for that, how about hate crimes, public nudity across from a church, theft, DUI, DUI while saying hateful things across from a school.............

The NFL needs to get out of reacting to events. If they want to hold the players to a high standard thats ok as long as it is done clearly and with consistency.

 

[tasmlab]

If it was found out that Tom Brady had done something similar to his children, I would want him cut immediately.

The Vikings should've fired AP like 10 minutes after they heard the news. And then bought back all of his jerseys.

 

[chasa]

For those saying getting a 6 game suspension makes it seem like well he is only going to miss 6 games that is fair since he was paid for the other ones. To put this in perspective the penalty is going to be $4,147,058 or 35% of his yearly salary.

When I heard abiut this suspension my first thought was doesn't the nfl understand the can of worms they refuse to close. It should be this simple 1) determine the categories of infractions (DUI, 1st degree misd, 2nd degree misd, felony..........); 2) Base the penalty on what someone gets convicted of (DUI = 2 games); 3) collect bargin the list; 4) enforce the list no exceptions or add ons. This way if a player gets caught then the argument is that the rules are in print shut up we will see u when the suspension is over.

6 games is the first offender penalty for domestic abuse.

This is the leagues first time penalizing him for what happened, the vikings are the one that gave him time off with pay.

 

[OhExaulted1]

Goodell being an idiot, again

 

[patchick]

Without clearly defined guidelines on what will be punished and how, the NFL will continue to be in a position of having to defend if their punishments are fair and consistent. My concern with the Rice case is that the NFL chose to come down hard on domestic abuse but was silent on other stuff like child abuse. Lets say 6 games is the new punishment for that, how about hate crimes, public nudity across from a church, theft, DUI, DUI while saying hateful things across from a school.............

The NFL needs to get out of reacting to events. If they want to hold the players to a high standard thats ok as long as it is done clearly and with consistency.

I don't disagree, I just don't think that any code based on imagining every possible offense and categorizing them by victim, location, weapon, etc. is a workable solution. (6 games for Ms. Scarlet in the Library with the Candlestick?)

Maybe a more general set of tiers based on broad characterizations of how egregious the behavior is?

 

[Ring 6]

Without clearly defined guidelines on what will be punished and how, the NFL will continue to be in a position of having to defend if their punishments are fair and consistent. My concern with the Rice case is that the NFL chose to come down hard on domestic abuse but was silent on other stuff like child abuse. Lets say 6 games is the new punishment for that, how about hate crimes, public nudity across from a church, theft, DUI, DUI while saying hateful things across from a school.............

The NFL needs to get out of reacting to events. If they want to hold the players to a high standard thats ok as long as it is done clearly and with consistency.

I'm not sure the NFL does (or should) believe that there should be a set punishment for a laundry list of offenses. I'm not sure the goal you have of having an automatic predetermined punishment aligns with their goals.
Frankly, they are not punishing for the offense itself, they are punishing for the impact on the image of the league. A player less publicized than Roethlisberger would probably have gotten a lesser punishment, and definitely would not have had it reduced like he did, because the personal conduct policy is about the image of the league not the conduct.