Two things seem to be intersecting lately a lot more than they should – domestic violence and the NFL.
After recent events of domestic violence involving players Ray Rice, Greg Hardy and most recently, Johnny Manziel, the NFL is finding some light.
A policy change was made in January by the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent, which prevents prospective players from attending the NFL combine and draft.
With this policy, players would be subjected to background checks, which would help see if they have a felony or misdemeanor conviction of sexual assault, domestic violence or use of weapons.
If players fail the background check or refuse to get one, they will be banned from attending the combine. The combine is a week-long showcase every February, where more than 400 college football players perform physical and mental tests for NFL scouts, coaches and general managers.
This year, the combine will be held Feb. 23-29 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Along with not being able to participate in the combine, they will not be invited to the televised draft event, which will be held April 28-30 in Chicago.
However, the policy does not prevent players from attending private workouts, pro days and regional combines. And it also still allows them to be drafted.
The policy also only affects players who are convicted, not those that are accused of domestic violence or sexual assault.
This still makes it easier for players to enter the NFL, so what is the point of making a policy like this, when it is not strict enough? Time is being wasted waiting around for a conviction to go through, so instead, they should not be allowed at all.
Any player with a possible history of convicted domestic violence and sexual assault charges are still able to work out privately with NFL scouts and coaches with no restrictions, makes the policy just words on a piece of paper. This policy does not show much assertion.
According to Vincent’s memo to the NFL teams, “It is important for us to remain strongly committed to league values as we demonstrate to our fans, future players, coaches, general managers, and others who support our game that character matters.”
I did not know that some of these values included sexual assault or domestic violence.
Character matters? I do not see character in doing these things, and still being able to enter the professional field, so the NFL must have no idea what it means.
If the NFL wants to be really serious about domestic violence, it should require all employees – from players and coaches to executives and operations personnel – to attend workshops and seminars on these issues.
If there is some type of violation, they should be suspended without any appeals and have supervised therapy sessions.
Executives should also make better policies that have stricter restrictions in when dealing with domestic violence and sexual assault issues.
Things like this can have not just physical consequences, but emotional consequences that no money or policy will not be able to fix.
I have a better policy, NFL: Instead of spending all this money on the Super Bowl, how about some therapy classes and seminars to educate not just your players or executives, but the whole organization, and maybe it will teach you to create better policies.
Jolene Nacapuy, a senior journalism major, is sports editor for the Campus Times. She can be reached by email at jolene.nacapuy@laverne.edu and on Twitter @jolenenacapuy.
