The NFL has a funny way of rewarding bad behavior. Most of the times these players just get an embarrassing slap on the wrist for some of the most heinous behavior.
Whatever your thoughts are on smoking marijuana, the NFL has this backwards philosophy of punishing players more severely for doing that than they do of those that have a track record of domestic violence.
And the NFL just allowed this star player to sign a $54 million contract after his alleged involvement in child abuse.
You might not be so surprised to learn the NFL doesn’t really crackdown on players involved in domestic violence incidents unless it happens on video.
The best example of this was former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice who was arrested for assault after a physical altercation with his then-fiancee at an Atlantic City casino. Rice was amongst league’s most explosive running backs.
The Ravens and NFL didn’t really do anything at the time of the incident, but everything changed once celebrity gossip TMZ released a video of what went down, which showed Rice slapping his fiancee so hard outside of an elevator that it knocked her unconscious.
This is when the NFL “stepped up” to take matters like these more seriously.
You might assume the NFL waits on prosecutors and police officers to conduct their investigation before making a ruling, but that’s a misnomer because the league conducts their own investigation, albeit they do get some of their facts from them.
Kansas City Chiefs star Tyreek Hill is amongst the league’s most dominant stars but he also has an incredibly checkered past.
In December 2014, when Hill was on Oklahoma State’s football team, Hill was arrested for assault against his 20-year-old pregnant girlfriend. He was consequently dismissed from the team and the charges eventually led to him pleading guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation. All he received was three years of probation.
And then in March 2019, his violent antics continued. Hill was investigated for alleged battery after an incident in which his three-year-old son sustained a broken arm.
The following month, his son was placed into care temporarily as a result of an emergency hearing conducted by the Kansas Department of Children and Families.
On April 24, the Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe released a statement, saying that his office believed a crime had been committed but the evidence did not allow them to conclude the perpetrator and that the Kansas Department of Children and Families continued to investigate. The following day, an audio recording of Hill and Espinal discussing the injury to their son and the subsequent investigation was released.
In the recording that surfaced, Hill and his fiancée discuss their son’s broken arm, she said that their son is scared of him, to which Hill responds “You should be afraid of me too.”
To be fair, the prosecutors dropped the charges but there is literal audio proof of him threatening her with violence.
But instead of suspending Hill, the NFL turned a blind eye as the Kansas City Chief just offered him a brand new $54 million contract extension.
The reason is likely because Tyreek Hill is one of the NFL’s biggest stars and they were probably relieved Hill wasn’t prosecuted for the alleged incident because then they’d have to emulate the legal repercussions in suspending the wide receiver.
The NFL can’t afford to have ratings diminish.