Darius Slay Calls Out NFL For Inconsistent Player Punishments

Darius Slay, Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive back is well-known for his flashy play on the gridiron. He also made a flashy tweet.

Slay was reminiscing on the NFL’s suspension of Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley for betting on games, and then called out the NFL for its inconsistent suspension policies and personal conduct expectations for their players.

Just been on my mind lately… the NFL is suspending Ridley for the whole yr but dudes out here beating up females an getting suspended 6 games!!

— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) March 11, 2022

Ridley clearly shouldn’t have gambled on gambling games but he still makes an important point.

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Recent history has shown that the NFL seems to have given punishments of this nature to former NFL players for far more serious offenses than Ridley. Some examples include:

• Ray Rice was fined $58,000 and suspended for 2 games after beating his girlfriend in an elevator.
• Gregy Hardy, who had assaulted his girlfriend in 2014, was initially suspended for 10 weeks. But the suspension was reduced upon appeal to only four games.
• Adrian Peterson, who was charged with child abuse felony, was only indicted for missing four games. He also received a $4.1million fine.
• Richard Sherman was charged with two misdemeanors in the summer of 2017. He only paid a few dollars and will have to go to one meeting to make amends. His punishment was never furthered by the NFL.

It seems that the NFL is unwilling to resolve a serious disciplinary problem. It is not okay to bet on league games, but this pattern of discipline makes you wonder why the NFL doesn’t give harsher penalties to those who commit such heartbreaking offenses.