Just 24 and 25 respectively, NFL defensive standouts Aldon Smith and Sheldon Richardson have made millions of dollars ever since entering the league. In his first two seasons of play (with the bulk of his rookie season coming off the bench), Smith amassed a total of 33 sacks as part of a fearsome defensive front with the San Francisco 49ers, while Richardson has recorded 145 tackles and 11 sacks in just his first two seasons as a professional with the New York Jets.
Richardson’s rookie contract in 2013 was a hefty 4-year, $10 million deal. Smith, in turn, has been paid roughly $6 million in his 4 seasons thus far in base salary alone with the 49ers before signing an incentive-laden contract for 2015 that stood to pay him as much as $6 million depending on individual and team performance.
Money and talent. Those are two things that go together hand-in-hand in the world of professional sports today. Unfortunately, even in spite of the league’s efforts to demonstrate a sense of social responsibility when faced with hot-button issues, it is clear to all observers that money and talent alone have failed to inculcate the same sense of responsibility in the players.
Consider this summer alone:
May 25, 2015: Chicago Bears defensive end Ray McDonald is arrested and charged with domestic violence and child endangerment after police respond to a call and discover that McDonald had threatened the accuser while she was holding a baby. McDonald is released by the Bears the same day, and he is arrested again just 2 days later for violating a restraining order filed after the original incident. This is after three prior domestic dispute incidents, one of which involved sexual assault.
May 29, 2015: Linebacker Prince Shembo is released by the Atlanta Falcons a day after confessing to a charge of aggravated cruelty to animals after kicking his ex-girlfriend’s dog during an argument, killing the dog.
June 8, 2015: The New England Patriots release linebacker Brandon Spikes after he is charged with a felony hit-and-run incident where he struck another vehicle with his car, causing injury to 3 passengers (including a child) in the struck vehicle. Spikes’ car is found abandoned not far from the spot of the incident. He pleads guilty to leaving the scene of an accident causing injury, speeding, driving negligently and failing to stay within marked lanes, and is still facing a court date.
July 1, 2015: Brandon Ivory, defensive tackle for the Houston Texans, is one of 2 men charged with first-degree burglary in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The stolen items and weapons used in the burglary were recovered by police at Ivory’s residence. The case is still unresolved.
July 4, 2015: Green Bay Packers tight end Andrew Quarless is arrested and charged with misdemeanor discharging a firearm in public following an incident where Quarless and another male allegedly approached several women in a car and Quarless fired his handgun into the air after an eyewitness heard the women yell at Quarless to leave him alone. Police found Quarless several blocks away attempting to conceal the handgun outside a bar.
July 12, 2015: Buffalo Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer is arrested and charged with battery in Walton County, Florida after allegedly pushing a young boy to the ground and punching him in the face, going on to threaten to kill him if he reported Kromer to the police. Kromer is later suspended for 6 weeks without pay by the Bills in August.
July 20, 2015: Tennessee Titans WR Justin Hunter turns himself in to Virginia Beach police after a barroom brawl. Hunter is charged with felonious assault involving “malicious intent, stabbing, cutting, [and] wounding”.
Since the new year, there have been a total of 25 reported incidents involving NFL players and coaches. Charges have included animal abuse; weapons use; domestic violence; drug use; and driving while intoxicated, often at excessive speeds. The cases above plus Richardson’s and Smith’s recent entanglements span a period of 73 days, leaving us with an average of at least one NFL arrest/charge per week for the summer of 2015.
Sheldon Richardson’s recent run-in with the law in July that came just days after the league announced a 4-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy may not have resulted in more serious charges beyond the reckless driving charge, but this statement by the St. Charles County prosecuting attorney should also be considered:
Even though police sought a felony charge for child endangerment, the prosecutor’s office — after a two-week investigation — decided not to charge Richardson because “we didn’t think there was enough evidence to support that beyond a reasonable doubt,” prosecuting attorney Tim Lohmar said.
“You might think, ‘He was driving 143 mph with a child in the back seat; isn’t that enough?'” Lohmar said. “There has to be some sort of intent on the part of the actor, causing immediate danger to the child. We looked at it closely, but we felt there wasn’t enough.”
Officials didn’t reveal the identity of the child, but it’s believed it may have been a relative of Richardson. In such cases, authorities sometimes find it difficult to prosecute because there can be a lack of cooperation from the child’s family.
Lohmar said there were no drug-related charges because police found no marijuana in the car.
“We’re pretty darn sure we know what was going on there,” he said. “It reeked of marijuana … but without the [marijuana] itself, you don’t have enough evidence to support drug charges.”
On Aldon Smith’s part, he has faced prior DUI charges, felony weapons charges, drug charges, and even an incident where he claimed to be carrying a bomb inside one of the country’s busiest airports. His latest charge involves DUI, hit-and-run, and public vandalism. The 49ers have wasted no time:
To their credit, the 49ers have done their best in reaching out to Smith, including pairing him up with the legendary Charles Haley as a mentor. Ultimately, and for whatever reason, it has become evident that their collective efforts have failed.
One need not be a licensed psychiatrist to recognize the signs and symptoms currently on display in the NFL, and even more worrying, this is not anything new, as the NFL police blotter has run several pages thick over the years. It is past high time to start asking much tougher questions and stop making excuses for the athletes.
“Athletes are not role models. They’re athletes.”
“Innocent until proven guilty.”
“Can we look at the victims?”
“Wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Don’t be judgmental.”
Those are common defenses for athletes who have run afoul of the law. While it is true that innocence until one is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt is one of the bedrocks of the American justice system, it can also be argued that it would be foolish of sports fans to stick our collective head in the sand and pretend that there is no worrying pattern that has been steadily emerging from the professional sporting landscape.
The charges that these athletes have faced are inexcusable and, in most cases, leave us wondering about the mind-numbing lack of common sense and discretion. We live in a world full of flawed individuals for sure, but that absolutely does not make it unreasonable to question the lack of judgment involved when an athlete who has made millions of dollars from our pockets threatens a mother holding an infant child. Or when one drives at over 140 mph with a 12-year old in the back seat. Or when one fires a handgun into the air to demonstrate dominance.
In fact, it is almost imperative that we as sports fans begin to demand more. We can keep on shaking our heads and lowering the bar of expectations to the point where each new incident is met with a shrug of the shoulders and an “Oh well, there they go again…” attitude. We may even argue that we shouldn’t be surprised, because the league has become a multibillion dollar industry on the backs of young athletes who came from broken families and neighborhoods and whose future prospects in life looked dim other than what they physical abilities allowed them to do inside the lines.
But the more free passes that are issued, the louder the message becomes: “It’s ok. Make the tackles or put points on the board for us. That’s all that matters.”
There are millions of young children who look up to these athletes. They may be family members or neighborhood boys who managed to escape the downward spirals in their communities and are now celebrated as success stories. They may be object lessons to coaches and teams all around the country on the benefits of hard work and dedication.
Solutions are not easy to come by in looking at this disturbing trend within the NFL, but the bottom line is clear: the league has a problem that needs addressing beyond fines, suspensions, and a few symposiums for rookies to sit through. All of those measures and jail time are merely band-aids on a hemorrhaging wound, and the longer the bleeding continues, the more life gets sucked out of the sport.
On top of that, what is really being accomplished by teams washing their hands of players and releasing them? NFL teams may not be appropriate places for social experiments, but for as much as the league has milked out of these young men, they surely owe more to them and their families than to drop them off at the curb before throwing them under the bus and rolling right over them on the way to picking up other replacements.
Wake up, America.
Whether you like it or not, these athletes are role models.
It is not “judgmental” to expect and demand more out of our public figures, and it is not just the league’s problem to solve on their own. This is true beyond sports. Just as professional athletes have a responsibility to carry themselves in a certain manner so as not to violate the public’s trust in them, we the public have our own responsibility to set the bar high.
Or have we reduced ourselves to merely expecting “the best” out of these individuals on Sundays?