The recent suspensions of three star NFL players–Josh Gordon, Ray Rice, and Wes Welker–has rocked the sports world and conquered the headlines. The suspensions have been largely criticized by the public for the manner in which they were handed out, as well as the magnitude of the punishments.
Gordon, who led the NFL in receiving last season with 1,646 yards, was suspended for the full 2014-2015 season after violating the league’s substance abuse policy for marijuana for the second time. Welker, one of the star receivers for the Super Bowl runner-up, the Denver Broncos, was suspended on Sept. 2 for the first four games of the season after testing positive for amphetamines.
Rice, a Super Bowl-winning running back for the Ravens, on the other hand, was suspended just two games for his widely-publicized domestic assault lawsuit.
Was the longevity of the two players’ suspensions who violated the NFL’s drug policy warranted in relation to Rice’s domestic dispute? That is the question that NFL fans everywhere have been debating these past few weeks.
“It’s insane. I hate to make comparisons honestly,” said former University of Kentucky star and former New York Giants back-up quarterback, Jared Lorenzen. “Two games for Rice is an absolute joke. I was brought up to believe that you never lay hands on a woman. The suspension should be half a season at least.”
After watching the video of Rice dragging his unconscious wife out of an elevator in Las Vegas, it’s hard to argue with Lorenzen. Gordon smokes a little marijuana every once in a while and loses an entire season of football while Rice slides by after unleashing his inner Mike Tyson on his wife. It just doesn’t seem right.
Due to the criticism that league commissioner Roger Goodell has received from the media and public, he has worked to correct the problems with the domestic violence and street drug policies. Now, for a first-time offense regarding domestic violence, players receive a six-game suspension. For a second offense, they receive a lifetime ban.
Now that’s all fine and dandy, but it still doesn’t explain why street drugs that are not performance enhancing still hold such a severe penalty. That’s why the NFL Player’s Association (NFLPA) is fighting for a more consistent disciplinary action of drug violations.
The crazy thing about the new policy that the NFL is looking to finalize, is that Welker and Gordon could have potentially avoided suspension altogether if it was instilled. The NFL’s current drug test policy requires 15 mg/ml of cannabis to result in a positive test, which is extremely low. In comparison, the MLB and military require 50 mg/ml in order to test positive and the Olympic testing committee requires 150 mg/ml. Also, the amphetamines, or molly, that Welker tested positive for would not be readable at all.
“[The drug test policy] was somewhat similar when I was in the league,” Lorenzen said. “It was independent contractors who ran the tests. You knew the date ahead of time and you knew you were going to get tested the first day of training camp every year.”
Lorenzen has been out of the league for about six years, so the manner in which players are tested could possibly have changed somewhat. However, it’s hard to sympathize with Gordon knowing that he probably knew when he was going to get tested and still failed multiple times. This guy was set to make roughly $1.5 million this year to do two things: play football and not fail drug tests. It seems crazy that an athlete couldn’t, at the very least, quit smoking long enough to pass the drug test that they know is coming no matter how much they might love marijuana.
Bottom line, all three players were wrong for doing what they did. However, the way that the NFL handled each of the cases was extremely wrong. Yes, commissioner Goodell and the NFLPA are working to correct the mistakes they made, but the NFL players needs more consistency from their leaders. By handling the cases the way they did, they set a precedent for all future infractions regardless of new policies.
Chance Smith can be reached at chance.smith@spartans.ut.edu