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To learn more about our privacy policy haga clic aquíThe NFL's decision Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill for allegations of child abuse and/or a recording of threatening behavior toward his former fiancee was announced Friday, and it was met with predictabledi satisfaction.
Predictable is a key word. This kind of publicmalaise has become the chorus that echoes from mostof the league's disciplinary decisions based on its personal conduct policy.
The reason is simple: The NFL is not capable of being a consistent Rhett Ellison Jersey , trustworthyarbiter in cases that are too complicated even for the American justice system to handle properly. The league's backpedaling in the Ray Rice case several years ago led tothis kind of interposition, seemingly as a result of the pre sure the league felt to take these matters of misconductinto its own hands no matter what the courts decided.
And, as the NFLcontinues to prove, we're asking too much of it.
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CBS' Jason La Canfora that many in the NFL were "shocked by the Tyreek Hill decision." Michael Strahan Jersey There was an expectation that Hill would be disciplined under the NFL's personal conduct policy as a result of the threatening words spokentoCrystal Espinalin a secretly recorded conversation that, per, "included Hill and Espinal arguing about who broke their childs arm, as Espinal accused Hill of injuring the child and also punching the boy in the chest (which Hill denied)."
The NFL's statement on Hill, released Friday, notes that "local law enforcement authorities have publicly advised that the available evidence does not permit them to determine who caused the child's injuries."
Sporting News NFL (@sn_nfl)
The regarding the lack of discipline for Hill stems not from the alleged violence even though the NFL's disciplinary proce s does not carry the same burden of proof as thelegal system does but from this threatening Dalvin Tomlinson Jersey language: "You need to be terrified of me, too,dumb b." This is what Hill said to Espinal after she claimed, referring to their 3-year-oldson who had suffered the broken arm, "He's terrified of you."
According to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy (via ), "when viewed in the context of the full 11-minute, 27-second audio recording and all other information gathered, the statement did not rise to a level of warranting discipline under the personal conduct policy."
Below are some relevant lines from the NFL's . They help explain why so many are perplexed as to why Hill's behavior was not a violation.
It is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime. We are all held to a higher standard and must conduct ourselves in a way that is responsible, promotes the values of the NFL, and is lawful.
Players convicted of a crime or subject to a disposition of a criminal proceeding (as defined in Will Hernandez Jersey this policy) are subject to discipline. But even if the conduct does not result in a criminal conviction, players found to have engaged in any of the following conduct will be subject to discipline:
Actual or threatened physical violence against another person, including dating violence, domestic violence, child abuse, and other forms of family violence.
If you were confused by how the NFLs personal conduct policy was applied before, youll be even more confused by how it was not applied today.
Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL)In many ways, the NFL's decision not to discipline Hill is more of the same inconsistency in the enforcement of NFL New York Giants Jersey a policy that has proven to be nothing more than a public relations tool. But it also signals a continuedshift in the league's reaction to these matters.
A couple of years ago, Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott was suspended six games after "the commi sioner determined that credible evidence established that Elliot engaged in conduct that violated the NFL policy." The league decided there was "substantial and persuasive" evidence that Elliott had "engaged in physical violence" against a woman named Tiffany Thompson in 2016.
This year, Elliott again was the subject of an NFL investigation after a video surfaced of him getting into Deandre Baker Jersey an altercation with a security guard. Goodell no punishment was nece sary.
So what's the difference as it pertains to the policy?
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio : The NFL simply does not want its best players to mi s games.
Writes Florio: "Elliot, despite video showing him confronting and po sibly shoving a 19-year-old security guard and notwithstanding Elliotts status as a prior offender (which supposedly is a big deal under the personal conduct policy), wasnt punished. Now theres Hill, who escaped any and all punishment with the league i suing a statement that doesnt even addre s the menacing remark that prompted the Chiefs to send him away Carl Banks Jersey from the teams offseason program.
"Two years ago, Hill wouldnt have been so fortunate. Now, as the league tries to build on momentum from 2018 TV numbers fueled by an offensive explosion about which the NFL privately bragged to reporters on a near-weekly basis, its better for the league to have Hill on the field than it is for the league to not have Hill on the field.
"Sure, there will be complaints and objections, maybe even a loosely-organized protest. But the potential B.J. Hill Jersey impact on the leagues busine s from letting Hill play is smaller than the potential impact on the leagues busine s from not letting him play, and thats ultimately all the league cares about."
The Elliott and Hill cases are just a couple of the of the arbitrary nature of the NFL's personal conduct policy. (Yes, Patriots fans, the Brady suspension counts, too; it is worth noting in the context of the Hill (non)decision that the New England QB was suspended four games for some deflated footballs that may or may not have been his doing.) But the Hill decision might be the best proof yet ofthe flawed nature of this policy.
Tom Brady got four games for pa sing a science test.
Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe)It's also worth noting that the handling of this kind of Aldrick Rosas Jersey off-field misconduct is difficult for all major American sports leagues. MLB'sdomestic violence policyalsoallows the league to discipline a player for a domestic violence incident regardle s of whether there are charges or a trial, and while improvements have been made, many still think MLBdoes not treat some incidentsas seriously as itshould. The NBA has had , too.
But the NFL has been atthe forefront, attempting to be something of a leader, a moral authority,as a sports league attempting to playjudge and jury. As Florio notes, Goodell literally was concerned about his job security in the wake of the Rice fiasco, and the commi sioner "resolved at that point that he would never, ever be accused again of going too easy on a player who misbehaves."
This is why the NFL can't be trusted with such a responsibility. As flawed as the American criminal justice system can be, it is not acting with one eye on the case and the other on television ratings. And the lack of a burden of proof in the NFL'sadjudication proce s leaves even more room for the inconsistency that has plagued the po sibility of actualjustice.
The result in the Hill casewas yet another surprising disciplinary decision by the NFL.
Nate Solder Jersey At some point, we should stop being surprised.