The NFL Doesn't Care About Women

By Dustin Rowles | NFL | August 1, 2022 |

By Dustin Rowles | NFL | August 1, 2022 |

For those who don’t watch the NFL, there’s a guy named Josh Gordon who used to play for the Cleveland Browns (and a number of other teams, although he’s currently a Kansas City Chief). He’s a wide receiver who is so fast that his nickname is Flash Gordon. He could have been one of the biggest stars of the NFL, but he kept getting in trouble with the NFL over its substance abuse policy. Since 2015, he’s missed far more games than he’s played in (including the entirety of the 2015, 2016, and 2020 seasons) because the guy cannot stop smoking a substance that is legal in many states and that does not improve one’s athletic performance.

That’s fine. Rules are rules, right? In the NFL, you’re not allowed to smoke pot. So, you can either play in the NFL or, do as Ricky Williams basically did back in the day, and choose pot. Likewise, you’re not allowed to gamble, and the NFL takes that sh*t seriously. Another wide receiver, Calvin Ridley, placed a $1500 parlay bet that included a bet on his own team, the Atlanta Falcons, and he was suspended for an entire season. Over one bet. On his own team. And NO one bets on the Falcons because the Falcons are terrible.

Rules are rules. I don’t really have much of an issue with the NFL’s decision to essentially suspend Josh Gordon for the better part of his career because he can’t stay away from weed, or Calvin Ridley for an entire season for betting on a game. These people are paid millions of dollars. It’s reasonable for the league to insist they not smoke pot or gamble on the NFL.

What I do have a problem with is Ray Rice beating the mess out of his fiance in an elevator — on camera — and only getting a two-game suspension, or Greg Hardy being suspended for four games after throwing his wife on a futon covered with semi-automatic weapons and threatening to kill her, or Ezekiel Elliot getting a six-game suspension for physically assaulting the same woman multiple times, or Tyreek Hill receiving no suspension — and in fact, a three-year $54 million deal at the time — after choking and punching his pregnant wife.

The rules are not arbitrary in the NFL. It’s just that the NFL doesn’t care about women. They believe that smoking a doobie is worse than choking and punching your pregnant girlfriend.

To wit: Deshaun Watson. Here’s a ridiculously talented quarterback who sat out all of the last NFL season with the Houston Texans because they wouldn’t trade him as he requested. Meanwhile, the Texans couldn’t trade him because he had 24 — two dozen — sexual misconduct suits pending against him, and no other team wanted to touch that. If you are familiar at all with the details of the case, the misconduct is horrific and incontrovertible.

But Watson settled 23 of 24 lawsuits filed against him by massage therapists alleging sexual harassment and assault, and the Houston Texans settled lawsuits with 30 women for ignoring and enabling Watson to harass and assault them during physical therapy sessions. That’s a lot of settlements.

DeShaun Watson is a serial harasser. He serially sexually assaults women. But after Texas grand juries declined to prosecute Watson over 10 of the complaints, the Cleveland Browns decided that DeShaun Watson is the player they need in their locker room to turn things around for the snakebit franchise. They signed him to a massive $230 million contract, which included a $45 million signing bonus, and because they knew he’d be suspended at least a few games, they backloaded the contract so that he wouldn’t miss out on much money while he was suspended.

The common wisdom around the NFL was that Watson would probably get at least a year’s suspension, and there were plenty of people advocating for him to get run out of the NFL permanently. The NFL itself pushed for an indefinite suspension and a $5 million fine.

A judge hired to settle disputes between the league and the players union, however, has decided to give him a six-game suspension and no fines. Because of the way his contract is structured, he will lose only about $345,000. Six games. Basically, he’ll miss a quarter of an NFL game for every woman he sexually assaulted.

Josh Gordon missed most of his career for smoking a plant that hurt no one. DeShaun Watson will miss 15 minutes of playing time for every woman he forced to perform oral sex on him.

via AP