Domestic Violence

NFL Dream Season, or we thought it was

Things in the NFL were going great, they had high-octane offenses in big cities, they had new rules to protect players from concussions, no BIG-NAME players had injuries. It all seemed perfect. But perfection is hard to achieve. This past week Reuben Foster and Kareem Hunt both had Domestic Allegations drop and overshadow what could have been a dream season for the NFL.

Generally, Domestic Violence isn’t a crime defined by itself. It is more of an overarching definition of crimes of violence and abuse done to family members, and members of an unmarried couple (boyfriend-girlfriend for example). This could include assault, battery, rape, or even threatening to do these things. The problem for the NFL recently regarding this issue have been their handling of punishments and investigations regarding these sorts of issues. Specific instances of this include Ray Rice, Ezekiel Elliot, Reuben Foster and Kareem Hunt.

Ray Rice

The NFL’s inconsistent punishment and investigation of Domestic Violence started with Ray Rice and their lackadaisical punishment of 2 games, that became 6 games and ultimately became an indefinite suspension. Now, it did eventually get overturned in arbitration, but Ray Rice was up front with the NFL and they dropped the ball on punishment. Ray Rice has never been back in the NFL since and never will. It is then that the NFL initiated a new protocol regarding Domestic Violence which was a 6 game suspension for first time offenders and a lifetime ban afterwards, with considerations for other mitigating factors.

Zeke Elliot

Now the NFL has had numerous occasions to implement this policy with swift and accurate action. The problem is that they have not done so. Ezekiel Elliot also had domestic violence allegations. He never had any criminal charges brought, and the NFL whether it happened or not still suspended Ezekiel Elliot for 6 games for what they found to be Violent behavior. But this problem came up again recently with Reuben Foster and Kareem Hunt again.

Reuben Foster and Kareem Hunt

This past week allegations about Reuben and Kareem came down of Domestic Violence. Reuben Foster allegedly slapped his girlfriend and knocked her phone out of her hand among other things. He was immediately cut by the 49ers, but yet picked up by the Redskins. This is in contrast to Kareem Hunt. Hunt’s incident happened back in February but only came up now. This is because when asked about the incident by team officials he was not truthful to them about what happened. But the real problem in all of this, the NFL’s handling of the issues, AGAIN. It has since come out that the NFL never investigated either Hunt or the woman involved. This is disturbing and alarming because after all of the backlash he NFL received from its previous handling of issues, they still got it wrong. Of course, this is not just a NFL problem but a problem all over the world, domestic violence is not a joke and should be treated swiftly and accurately. Now, they did since put both Reuben Foster and Kareem Hunt on the Commissioner’s Exempt List preventing them from playing. But the NFL’s lack of proper investigation is alarming and is a stain on a season that was almost great.