Unnecessary Roughness: The Problem of Assault in the NFL

CW: Sexual assault, violence towards women

Nearly five years to the day since former Baltimore Ravens Ray Rice’s domestic violence case broke, New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown was accused of raping his former physical trainer. Britney Taylor decided to forgo her anonymity and pursue a federal lawsuit against Brown.

This comes days after the end of the Brown saga in Oakland. He ended his relationship with the Raiders in a messy media storm after freezing his feet in a cryogenic chamber, refusing to play in a regulation helmet and threatening violence at General Manager Mike Mayock.

The NFL has dealt with hundreds of cases of sexual assault and domestic violence in the last decade alone. In 2015, there were 44 active players in the league with accusations of sexual assault: 2% of players on the roster had an accusation against them. In 2018, according to the USA Today Arrest Database, 80% of arrests made in the league were for either domestic violence or sexual offenses.

Ray Rice

Ray Rice’s case in 2015 was the high profile sexual assault case that endures in people’s memory. Video footage emerged of him assaulting his partner on September 8th, 2014 after being sold to TMZ for $91,000.

The video release set off a chain reaction, leading the Baltimore Ravens to release Rice. Commissioner Roger Goodell was under such intense scrutiny that for FBI Director Robert Mueller was hired to conduct an investigation into how the league handled the case. Rice never played in the league again, instead choosing to spend his time speaking at colleges about domestic violence.

Rice may be trying to walk the righteous path, but the NFL’s policy on domestic violence and sexual assault is inconsistent and relies heavily on irrefutable evidence which rarely exists in these cases.

Commissioner Roger Goodell lengthened the ban to six games for the first domestic violence incident, and a lifetime ban for a second incident. However, the average length of a suspension is 1.5 games.

Inconsistencies

In 2018, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill was heard on an audio recording threatening the mother of his children, who he was convicted of abusing in 2014. He was not punished after the woman declined to speak with NFL investigators, and prosecutors couldn’t determine who broke their 3-year-old son’s arm. Even with the evidence of the audio recording, it was not sufficient enough for him to be reprimanded. His contract was extended this year for a 3-year, $54 million deal, guaranteeing him $18.3 million. It’s difficult to ascertain what the league would claim is sufficient evidence.

Oakland Raiders offensive guard Richie Incognito was charged with sexual assault battery with a golf club. In May 2012, an anonymous woman filed a report against Incognito for battery after he allegedly “used his golf club to touch her by rubbing it up against her vagina, then up her stomach then to her chest” at an event in Aventura, FL. Incognito, who was allegedly drunk, then knocked the woman’s sunglasses off her head, rubbed his genitals against her buttocks, and emptied a bottle of water in her face, according to the report.

Several months later, he allegedly entered a woman’s car without her permission and made crude remarks to her. The NFL conducted an investigation, but there was not enough evidence to support the incident. Commissioner Goodell summoned Incognito a month later to discuss his “troubling pattern” of behavior, but nothing came of it. In the years since, Incognito has been accused of bullying teammates, using racist slurs and harassing patrons in a gym.

Richie Incognito is still signed to an active roster.

Allowing these players with a troubling history to women to continue to play in the league sets a dangerous precedent: if you’re talented, it doesn’t matter what you do.

Talent trumps all

This offseason, former Kansas City Chiefs superstar back Kareem Hunt was accused of assaulting a 19-year old woman. He repeatedly told the Chiefs to stop pursuing video, and it wasn’t until TMZ uncovered the footage that he was finally dropped by the team and placed on the NFL’s exemption list. He is currently signed by the Cleveland Browns and is expected to play this season on a one year, $1.1 million contract.

Even with irrefutable video evidence of assault, he is only sitting out eight games.

Reporting

It was only since the Ray Rice situation that the league has even begun to take the situation seriously. In 2014, former NFL executive Jerry Angelo told USA Today that teams did not discipline players in “hundreds and hundreds” of domestic violence incidents. A month later, the New York Times published an investigation showing that some NFL teams discouraged players’ wives from reporting abuse to the police.

As we can see in the cases above, the league’s policy on sexual assault and domestic violence rarely does mean an accusation is the end of someone’s career. What it does mean is years of public hate and scrutiny from the media on the accuser.

Those who do come forward are so often maligned in favour of players. Social media discourse is quick to call accusers money grabbers, liars and hungry for fame. No one wants their team to lose their star players, no denial is the only option for many.

In April 2010, for example, an anonymous woman who alleged that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had raped her in March of that same year asked that the charges against him be dropped. In a letter, her lawyer stressed that the alleged victim was not recanting her accusation, but rather stating that “a criminal trial would be a very intrusive personal experience for a complainant in the situation, given the extraordinary media attention that would be inevitable.”

What the league can do

It’s 2019 and all other industries are rethinking punitive measures for cases involving violence to women.

The NFL would do well to ensure consistency on dealing with these subjects, and take a zero tolerance approach on accusations of violence or sexual misconduct. Misdemeanours surrounding marijuana or banned supplements are applied more consistently, with players being given a blanket 4 game suspension for their first offense.

In the current case against Brown, his quick move to counter-sue Britney Taylor is a calculated decision to control the narrative. Publicly refuting the claims against him puts the NFL in a tough position of choosing to suspend him or not. The vitriol against Taylor has already stained public opinion, and it’s likely to amount to very little for Brown despite the severity of the accusations.

The groundwork was laid in the aftermath of Ray Rice.

The league needs to take control of this situation. For the safety of women this is a matter of urgency.