The NFL, NFLPA Have a SERIOUS Problem
When Drug Use is a Bigger Problem than Sexual Assault, the NFL and its Players clearly do not take Sexual Violence seriously.
I was as unsurprised as I was appalled today that the Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson will be suspended six games for alleged sexual assault to start the 2022 NFL Season:
More than two years after the first civil lawsuit was filed against Deshaun Watson, disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson has suspended the Cleveland Browns quarterback for the first six games of the 2022 season, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Robinson, jointly appointed by the NFL and NFL Players Association to rule on the case and administer any punishment, listened to arguments from the league, the union and Watson's attorney during a three-day hearing held in her home state of Delaware in late June. The NFL had been pushing for a suspension of at least a year, while the union and Watson's attorney argued that the quarterback should not be suspended at all. The sides discussed a potential settlement all the way up through the hearing, but they could not agree to a deal.
Yes it took two YEARS to get to this point, and all DeShaun Watson gets is six missed paychecks. He’ll miss one quarter of football for each of the 24 accusations of sexual assault that he faces.
I’m sure the paychecks that Watson misses will really hurt a guy who recently inked a 5 year, $230,000,000 contract with the Browns after being traded from Houston.
For comparison:
Even Michael Vick was suspended for over two years for his involvement in a dog fighting ring.
Yes, in the NFL being involved in dogs fighting earns you a suspension over five times longer than one for allegedly sexually assaulting women does. Nothing tells us how much the NFL respects women and their female fans like this.
It’s actually worse than that, however. The NFL at least was trying to get Watson suspended for a year, even though that was still far below a deserved sentence. The NFL Players Association, the player’s union, argued that Watson should not be suspended AT ALL. I’m not sure what the hell kind of operation J.C. Tretter and DeMaurice Smith are running over there, but one that thinks alleged sexual assault should not be punished at all is a damning indictment of their leadership and the players they represent.
It’s also a damning indictment regarding the existence of unions, but that’s another story.
The NFL and the NFLPA just can’t pinkwash this with breast cancer awareness stuff in October. After all, 56% of women are avid fans or casual fans of NFL football. The NFL and the Union better sit down and get this fixed. In a hurry. They cannot wait until the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in 2030 to create a category of suspensions for alleged sexual assault. The League and the NFLPA need to make sure that nobody gets the kind of slap on the wrist that DeShaun Watson got ever again.