Aldon Smith’s 9 game suspension was met with the same kind of ooh’s and aww’s that accompany NFL suspensions. In the immediate aftermath of Roger Goddell not really changing the NFL’s laws on domestic violence, the reaction to Smith’s suspension was that it was fair.
Lost in the coverage was that Aldon Smith will be allowed to be around the 49ers facility. Josh Gordon, who is serving a year long suspension, will be completely cut off from the team, as are most players who are suspended. And thus we run into a familiar problem; Goodell, being the one guy with all the power, and the uneven and uncertain level of discipline, how it’s enforced, and how it helps players.
Aldon Smith gets 9 games for violating various league policies. He has two DUI’s, yelled a bomb threat in an airport, and pled no contest to six different charges, including possessing an illegal firearm. He has missed 14 games in his NFL career by violating league policy. And despite all that, Smith only gets nine games, and access to coaches and team facilities.
Josh Gordon took over 70 drug test, and failed one by one billionth of one gram, and one sample came back clean. He, despite possibly having an addiction issue, will be ripped from his teammates for a year. In a nation that is increasingly forgiving admit marijuana related issues, and where it’s either been legalized, legalized for medicinal purposes, or decriminalized in many states states, Gordon will be removed from his support structure for a drug offense for a year, while Aldon Smith, who has broken numerous laws and been suspended for the same things numerous times, only gets 9 games.
Gordon is no angel. He was arrested for DUI in Raleigh, North Carolina, and he does, on the surface, seem to have a real problem. But why does Smith get nine games for his various infractions, and Gordon gets a year.
Is it because the NFLPA negotiated on Smith’s behalf? Is it because Gordon hired outside counsel to defend him? If that’s the case…so?
The Cleveland Browns made the same plea to allow Gordon to stay with the team, but they were ignored. Not only that, but the NFL dragged out Gordon’s appeal decision until the last minute.
Where Roger Goodell gets into trouble isn’t in enforcing their laws. I would expect that if I broke my company’s policies, they would enforce them. I’d also expect roughly the same penalty to me as there would be for a similar offense from someone else.
This doesn’t happen in the NFL, because every suspension is subject to the whims of one man. And that leads to inconsistent punishment that’s subject to no checks and balances. And that’s why Goodell seems so ineffective as a commissioner; his judgement sucks, and no one can call him on it.
Josh Gordon deserved to get suspended. He broke the rules set forth by the CBA, and he has to follow them like everyone else. But the NFL’s failure to have consistent rules about said suspensions hurts.
And taking young men who may struggle with addiction, or mental health, or who just crave structure, away from their teammates, seems almost cruel. If Aldon Smith can stay with his team, Gordon should be able to be with his. Consistency is key.
The only thing Goodell is good at is being inconsistent.
Football is Stupid 