NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue was deemed to be issuing some sort of threat or disciplinary action last week when he told troubled running back Lawrence Phillips that he would be fined for past misconduct if he signs with an NFL team.
But instead of being disappointed, Phillips was likely elated at the news. For it meant that a mere payment of a fine is the only barrier between him and another chance at making big money in the NFL. Though the league made a point to say the fine would be “substantial,” it amounts only to a slap on the wrist for a player who has a history of violent abuse against women.
There is little doubt some team will sign Phillips, who was the sixth overall pick in 1996, but performed miserably at St. Louis and Miami before reviving his career in Europe by helping Barcelona to the NFL Europe championship game.
The Ravens, Packers, 49ers and Raiders all are reportedly interested. Undoubtedly, whichever team is willing to take a chance on Phillips will likely pay the fine or compensate him enough to where the fine won’t deal him a critical financial blow.
In essence, Tagliabue’s warning amounts to a slap on the wrist. “I worked hard to meet my responsibilities in NFL Europe this spring and I’m determined to do the same in the NFL starting this summer,” Phillips said.
He offered nothing else to show remorse for a history that includes pleading no contest to beating a former girlfriend while at Nebraska and being cut from the Dolphins last season after his arrest on charges of hitting a woman who refused to dance with him at a nightclub. He pleaded guilty to battery and received six months probation.
Phillips should not just be fined, but suspended without pay for at least the first four weeks of the season. The same holds true for Jet players Jumbo Elliott and Jason Fabini and ex-Jet Matt O’Dwyer if charges stemming for their alleged drunken brawl in Long Beach last week stick. Elliott, a 300-pound left tackle, was charged with misdemeanor assault, harassment and public lewdness. Police said he triggered the brawl by urinating in a sink in the women’s bathroom in a bar and then punching two patrons, including a woman.
Having known and liked Elliott since he was drafted by the Giants in 1988, the news was disturbing. O’Dwyer, who signed a two-year, $2.7 million contract with Cincinnati three weeks ago, faces the most serious charges: felony assault, harassment and criminal mischief. Like every American, Elliott, Fabini and O’Dwyer are considered innocent until proven guilty. Nonetheless, it’s time that professional athletes who engage in criminal activity be treated like criminals.
Suspensions are allowable under the NFL’s Violent Crime Policy, which prohibits participation in any crime involving the use, or threat of, physical violence to a person or persons and crimes involving the destruction of property.
Suspension can be imposed even when a player enters a no contest plea, which means that anything short of Elliott and Fabini being found innocent or the charges being dropped would expose them to suspension without pay.
But don’t count on Elliott or O’Dwyer missing many games, if any. If the charges aren’t dropped through some sort of settlement, the players involved will likely receive fines, following the precedent set with Tagliabue’s warning to Phillips. All players charged with crimes involving violence or alcohol can be ordered to enroll in anger management programs and alcohol counseling, something Elliott exposed himself to when he pleaded guilty last year to driving while impaired. He was fined $350 and his driver’s license was suspended.
But fining players for criminal activity isn’t enough. It’s sends the terrible message to young athletes that money can erase trouble. Pay a fine, play ball. We’ve seen it too many times with too many of the same players, repeating the same mistakes.
If Phillips is suspended for the first four games of the season it might make a team leery of signing him to a big contract. It also would show that Tagliabue and the NFL will have zero tolerance for players acting like criminals.
Everyone deserves a second- and even a third-chance. But the physical assault of women by its players is something the NFL cannot dismiss with a mere fine that can be paid by a club or an agent or a shoe company. If players can’t behave in public, they don’t deserve to play on Sundays.
