NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is an incompetent buffoon who has no business running a billion-dollar organization. His latest failing came when he opted to let Tyreek Hill go without punishment after his latest bout with domestic abuse and the law. The calls to fire Goodell have never been louder, and with good reason. For the remainder of the off-season, Last Word on Pro Football will be taking a deep dive into all the reasons Roger Goodell should not have a job. Let’s continue the series by discussing Hill’s closest comparison: Baltimore Ravens’ cornerback Jimmy Smith.
The Jimmy Smith Suspension: Fire Goodell #2
What Happened
Prior to the start of the 2018 season, the NFL suspended cornerback Jimmy Smith without pay for the first four games of the year. According to a statement released by the Ravens, “[t]he NFL found evidence of threatening and emotionally abusive behaviors by Jimmy toward his former girlfriend that showed a pattern of improper conduct.”
As of this posting, the public does not have access to this evidence. However, based on the description provided by the league and the Ravens, it sounds like Smith threatened and used other forms of emotional manipulation on his then-girlfriend. Smith didn’t dispute these charges and accepted his suspension, so there’s really no gray area here. This sort of behavior shouldn’t go unpunished, and the league handed out a four-game suspension for his actions.
In a vacuum, the league actually got this one right. The NFL needed to do something to show Smith’s actions aren’t tolerable. Smith served his four games, issued an apology, and the story went away. After failing countless times over, Goodell finally got one right. However, this decision is now completely undermined by Goodell’s inaction in the Tyreek Hill case.
How Jimmy Smith Affect Tyreek Hill
As everyone knows, Tyreek Hill’s fiancé secretly recorded a tape of Hill and herself getting into an argument. In the argument, Hill’s fiancé says that their child is “terrified” of him, and Hill counters by saying “you need to be terrified of me too, bitch”.
In terms of the child abuse itself, the 11-minute tape casts enough doubt for Hill to escape punishment. Hill and Espinal both could have been the abuser, so handing out a 16-game suspension would have been overkill. However, Hill is not out of the clear and should have faced some repercussions for saying that Espinal and the child need to be “terrified” of him.
If that’s not the definition of “threatening and emotionally abusive behaviors”, then I don’t know what is. Hill clearly says that Espinal should live in fear, and the “too” implies that the child should as well. Maybe Hill didn’t abuse the child – there’s a genuine case to be made that it was Espinal – but this tape should have warranted a four-game suspension.
Additionally, Hill’s ugly past could easily have dictated a larger suspension. Smith had drug and alcohol issues in college but no record of domestic abuse. Hill has a significantly worse background than Smith, even if it happened before joining the NFL.
Not handing out at least a four-game suspension is yet another ugly blow for Goodell and his reputation. Conventional wisdom states that the league should follow their own precedent when it comes to domestic abuse cases. However, Goodell’s inexplicable decision to not suspend Hill spits right in the face of his earlier decision. If I’m Jimmy Smith, I want to know if I can get those four game checks back. Goodell might have made this decision to try to gain leverage with the NFLPA, but the move just makes him look even more like a clueless buffoon who issues out punishment with no rhyme or reason.
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