Nothing satisfying about Hill outcome
There is something deeply unsatisfying in the way the Tyreek Hill case reveals the limitations of NFL discipline.
We heard him chillingly threaten Crystal Espinal, the mother of his 3-year-old son, in an audio recording earlier this year. We know there is child endangerment case pending in Johnson County, Kan., where Hill could face allegations of abuse. We remember that he pleaded guilty as a college player to choking and kicking a pregnant Espinal.
But, after an NFL investigation into the current allegations, the wide receiver will report to the Chiefs training camp on July 26 with his fellow teammates.
“Based on the evidence presently available, the NFL cannot conclude that Mr. Hill violated the Personal Conduct Policy,” an NFL statement reads. “Accordingly, he may attend Kansas City’s training camp and participate in all club activities.”
As a legal matter, it appears the court is trying to determine who is responsible for the child’s broken arm, but that it has not been able to conclusively make that assessment.
The league, to be fair, does not take these allegations lightly or come to this decision easily. It interviewed Hill and family members of both Hill and Espinal. Espinal, as is often the case, did not agree to be interviewed by her husband’s employer. It is possible for this to be an unsatisfying non-call, and also an honest attempt to find facts and assess responsibility.
Except for one thing that stands out.
“You need to be terrified of me too, b----,” Hill said in the recording released by a Kansas-based media outlet.
It’s easy for this to get lost in the noise of what happens on a daily basis these days. When the elevator tape of Ray Rice punching his then-girlfriend was released in 2014, it took up at least two news cycles. Now, the competition for our outrage is so much more intense, from racist chants at a presidential rally to squalid conditions for asylum seekers at our borders.
A player who threatens a woman? It’s certainly not a surprise. When he puts on a uniform and starts catching some passes in training camp? It’ll barely feel like indigestion. By the time Hill is catching touchdowns for your fantasy team it’ll mean a slightly less enthusiastic first pump.
One caveat, the NFL has reserved the right to take another look at the Hill allegations if new information becomes available. You may remember when Giants kicker Josh Brown was suspended for a single game after allegations of domestic violence, only for the league to look foolish as documents revealing the full extent of the abuse were later released.
In Hill’s case it is crucial, because the court records in the child abuse case, as well as in a civil case between Hill and Espinal, are sealed while the case is adjudicated. There is an important reason for that, and it is in order to protect the 3-yearold child at the center of these proceedings. This is the first child abuse case the league has looked at since Adrian Peterson. In that case, Peterson was suspended for the whole season. Importantly in that case, the NFL had concretely connected the abuse to Peterson, something that hasn’t formally been adjudicated in Hill’s case.
And as for the audio recording, an 11-minute version was later released and in it Hill can be heard attempting to diffuse the argument, and stating that Espinal did not tell the truth in the allegations of abuse when she was pregnant, an allegation Hill plead guilty to. Despite that, the words quoted above still ring loudly.
The NFL’S code of conduct policy allows NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a discretion he appears reluctant to take. The policy states that things that happened in college can be part of the consideration in issuing discipline to current players.
And yet, Goodell has to maintain an appearance of fairness with players in addition to exercising our collective outrage. He satisfies either constituency, which is making the Robert Kraft solicitation case an interesting one. The Patriots owner is currently attempting to suppress surveillance video of an alleged sex act, and in the NFL, video makes all the difference.