{"id":68914,"date":"2019-07-22T18:52:06","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T22:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=68914"},"modified":"2021-03-17T16:45:24","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T20:45:24","slug":"fire-goodell-jarran-reed-hypocrisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/07\/22\/fire-goodell-jarran-reed-hypocrisy\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire Goodell #3: Jarran Reed Hypocrisy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL has an unparalleled ability to ruin their own credibility, and that trait shined through yet again on Monday afternoon. NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport<\/strong> broke the news that Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Jarran Reed<\/a><\/strong> will miss the first six games of the season due to a domestic abuse incident back in early 2017. Reed didn\u2019t face charges for this incident, but the NFL clearly felt he violated the personal conduct policy. This is all fine and dandy except for the fact that, less than a week ago, Roger Goodell<\/strong> didn\u2019t issue any punishment to Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Fire Goodell #2: The Jimmy Smith Suspension<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Fire Goodell #3: The Hypocrisy of the Jarran Reed Suspension<\/strong><\/h2>\n

What Happened<\/h3>\n

According to the NFL, Reed violated the NFL Personal Conduct Policy, specifically with regards to domestic violence. The exact details are not available to the public, so let\u2019s piece together what we do know. On April 27th<\/sup>, 2017, Bellevue Police responded to a call which accused Jarran Reed of assault. At the time of the incident, Bellevue Police confirmed that they had a domestic violence case open against Reed.<\/p>\n

However, the police never filed charges, and Reed was never arrested. Despite this, the NFL felt as though Reed\u2019s actions crossed a line and deserved punishment. The league issued the six-game suspension and upheld it after Reed appealed the initial ruling.<\/p>\n

In a vacuum, the league did nothing wrong on this one. The NFL definitively won the right to issue suspensions as they see fit during the DeflateGate fiasco, so Reed doesn\u2019t need to be convicted to serve a suspension. We as a society do not know what happened that night, so Reed could very well be guilty. Ray Rice<\/a><\/strong> and Greg Hardy<\/a><\/strong> are living examples that sometimes the law fails to apprehend an abuser. Domestic violence shouldn\u2019t go unpunished, so this suspension isn\u2019t necessarily a strike against Goodell on its own.<\/p>\n

Why This Suspension is Bad<\/h3>\n

Rules are supposed to be followed, and there\u2019s supposed to be some type of consistency behind this decision making. Unfortunately, that guidance simply isn\u2019t present in the NFL, and it hasn\u2019t been for quite some time. Less than one week after handing out Reed\u2019s suspension, the NFL decided to let Tyreek Hill go without a suspension. As I\u2019m sure you all know, Hill spent his off-season at the center of a child abuse investigation in which a member of the DA said he believed \u201ca crime was committed<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roger Goodell would tell you that he didn\u2019t suspend Hill because the league could not conclusively determine who abused the child. Crystal Espinal,<\/strong> Hill\u2019s fianc\u00e9, recorded a tape of the two getting into an argument. While the 11-minute tape creates the possibility that Hill didn\u2019t abuse the child, it still paints him in a bad light. At one point in the recording, Espinal mentions that Child Services said Hill went too far in disciplining the child, and Hill acknowledges that the interaction occurred. However, the truly damning part of the tape was when Espinal said that their child is afraid of Hill and Hill responded by saying \u201cyou need to be afraid of me too, bitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

This alone constitutes verbal abuse, especially for a player of Hill\u2019s background. Hill clearly states that Espinal should live in fear of what he could do to her, and the \u201ctoo\u201d implies that the child should share that fear. Considering Hill pled guilty to strangling Espinal back in 2014, the NFL should have taken this as a very real and credible threat.<\/p>\n

Roger Goodell Proves He’s a Fraud With Jarran Reed Suspension<\/h3>\n

Nonetheless, Roger Goodell showed his true colors by allowing Hill to play a full 16-game season. Hill is one of the NFL’s biggest stars and having him on the field brings in more ratings and money. Roger Goodell doesn\u2019t actually care about abuse victims, integrity, or anything that would imply he\u2019s a man of character. All that matters to him is the bottom line. Defensive linemen don\u2019t bring in ratings, so they have to pay for their actions. The NFL simply cannot survive with a man this heartless running the show, and the owners need to do what should have been done a long time ago and fire Goodell.<\/p>\n

Fire Goodell #2: The Jimmy Smith Suspension<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Main photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>