Domestic violence response still big NFL, team problem
Four years later, two disasters. And just when the league, primed for an exciting stretch run to the Super Bowl with the exploding scoreboards it prefers, had seemingly recovered from several of the non-football issues that threatened its TV and poll numbers.
It was too good to be true. The big stories were on the field. TV ratings are rising. New stars are aligning. Yet suddenly there’s a reality check underscoring, in this post-Ray Rice era, that some, if not many, within the NFL’s ranks — including accused players — are still so capable of bungling matters that involve domestic violence. This is lost yardage in the worst way.
In the span of seven days: A star linebacker, Reuben Foster, arrested at the team hotel on the eve of a game for alleged domestic assault. Foster cut by the 49ers. Outrage ignited after Washington claimed Foster on waivers. Tonedeaf comments by Washington’s senior football exec, Doug Williams, who called Foster’s case “small potatoes” when compared to worse acts by some people in “high, high, high, high places.” A public apology from Williams for his insensitivity to women. A TMZ video
revealing that the NFL’s reigning rushing champ, Kareem Hunt, shoved and kicked a woman during a February incident in Cleveland. Hunt cut by the Chiefs. The “commissioner’s exempt list” open for business again.
It was the worst week for the NFL since September 2014. That’s when TMZ, the unofficial expose network of the NFL, released the inside-the-elevator video of Rice knocking out Janay Palmer (then fiancée, now wife) with one brutal punch. When the Panthers maintained that Greg Hardy, appealing a domestic violence conviction, would stay in the lineup until his legal process was completed (he never played another game for Carolina). When Adrian Peterson was indicted for reckless injury to a child, the 4-year-old son he whipped with a switch. When Roger Goodell pretty much went into hiding.
Unfortunately, for all of the policies, additional personnel, resources, lip service and strategies employed by the NFL since 2014, domestic violence again looms as the league’s most pressing issue.
Will this prompt a presidential tweet?
It would be a mistake to lump all NFL players and decision-makers as tolerant of domestic violence or clueless in addressing such issues. But while social consciousness increases amid the #MeToo movement, the NFL has a serious perception issue conflicting with its many efforts to connect with and market to women, who also represent perhaps their fastest-growing fan base.
Meanwhile, as focus, debate and activity linked to national anthem protests this season has largely evaporated, blackballed Colin Kaepernick still doesn’t have a job in a league that employs more than a few sorry quarterbacks, for reasons that have nothing to do with domestic violence.
Foster, though, is a first-round talent with a team willing to work with him as he goes through his legal issues. He’s not the one who ignited a movement and national debate by taking a knee during the national anthem to protest social injustices and killings of unarmed African-Americans by police. His issue is another domestic violence allegation. In the NFL culture, at least with one team that also has a quarterback need in light of Alex Smith’s broken leg, Foster is worthy of another chance while Kaepernick is left to pursue a collusion case against the league.
What a skewed message. But it’s ingrained in the NFL’s culture. Still.
Chances are strong that Hunt, who according to The Athletic pleaded with the Chiefs to reconsider their decision to cut him during a tearful farewell after being summoned back to the team’s headquarters on Friday, will ultimately land with another team. He’s 23. Unlike Rice a few years ago, he still has a lot of acceleration in his legs after taking the league by storm last year as a rookie. In
27 NFL games, Hunt scored 25 touchdowns and put up 2,984 yards from scrimmage. After fumbling on his first NFL carry, he never fumbled again on
531 touches. And he didn’t launch a protest movement.
You know the deal: Talent opens doors … in most cases, Mr. Kaepernick.
It’s striking that after releasing Hunt, the Chiefs put out a statement that es- sentially said he wasn’t dumped for striking a woman … but for lying about the incident to the team’s brain trust. According to The Athletic, Hunt insisted to his employers that he never left his hotel apartment to engage with his 19year-old accuser, which sure didn’t match up with the videotape.
Yet the way the Chiefs stated it, they seemingly would have stuck with him if he had not been “untruthful” about the incident. Hunt was also accused of punching a man in the face during an incident in June at an Ohio resort, although the alleged victim opted not to press charges.
Despite such smoke, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt made comments to reporters during training camp that arguably were even more irresponsible on the tone-deaf meter than Williams’ remarks about Foster.
Said Clark Hunt, in August, according to multiple reports: “Kareem is a young man, second year in the league, obviously had a big year on the field last year. I’m sure he learned some lessons this offseason and hopefully he won’t be in those kind of situations in the future.”
What a foolish comment coming from a man who undoubtedly knew — and if not, should have known — that some form of videotape existed from the incident, which the Chiefs and the NFL unsuccessfully tried to obtain. Besides, there was already the conflicting account from what the running back told the Chiefs and what the accuser alleged about the incident.
For the team’s owner to be so cavalier in addressing Hunt’s predicament, while dropping a reference to his performance on the field, further illustrates how far the NFL needs to go with its culture in dealing with domestic violence.
You’d think that Clark Hunt would be sensitized to the issue, given the manner in which the team in 2016 had to address drafting now-star receiver Tyreek Hill, who was on probation for a domestic violence incident with his then-girlfriend while in college.
In 2012, the Chiefs endured a tragedy when linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, then drove to the team’s headquarters and killed himself.
Yet Clark Hunt, in August, portrayed the Kareem Hunt issue in a manner more suitable for a teenager wrecking the family car.
It also makes me wonder: Have all the lessons from 2014 been forgotten?
Sure, the cases are different. But the common thread is domestic violence against the backdrop of the NFL’s culture. And some of the similarities from four years ago, such as TMZ dropping videos that the NFL apparently couldn’t get its hands on, are just too eerie.
Of course, the games will go on, just like the teaching moments that don’t seem to stick.
In seven days, Reuben Foster was arrested for alleged domestic assault, was cut by the 49ers, then was claimed by Washington on waivers. Then Kareem Hunt was cut by the Chiefs after a TMZ video showed he shoved and kicked a woman in February.