Storyline: Richard Sherman addresses a number of issues facing the NFL. The commissioner has too much power, Sherman concludes, and he wants to see that changed.
Courtesy: USA TODAY Sports
Richard Sherman, three-time All-Pro cornerback for the Seahawks, is renowned for his blunt attitude. Sherman recently lashed out at the NFL. How his revelations will affect NFL betting odds remains to be seen.
Sherman let off steam in The Players’ Tribune, where he is a regular feature. He highlighted a number of issues confronting the NFL, including falling TV ratings, domestic violence, and issues associated with the league’s powerful commissioner, Roger Goodell.
Even though ratings in the home market for Seahawks’ games have risen slightly over the first seven weeks of the ’16 season, Sherman points out that television ratings for NFL games nationally are either stagnate or on the decline. Sherman says that’s because league is killing the emotion that fans have of the game.
Sherman also expressed mistrust for the NFL by claiming that the league intentionally edited the highlights of Julio Jones foul-out of a game. And he commented on the controversial matter of how the NFL is handling Josh Brown’s domestic violence case.
The NFL had formulated a policy that punished any player involved in domestic violence via a 6-game suspension. But the league suspended Brown for one game only. The NFL’s defense? There were ‘scanty details’ about the case. But the NFL is now facing a public relations nightmare because of that approach.
Courtesy: ESPN.com
At issue is flexibility written into the league’s policy. Richard Sherman highlights the fine print in the NFL’s domestic violence policy, which allows the league to either shorten or lengthen the suspension period as it desires.
By taking that approach Sherman says the league really doesn’t have a domestic violence policy. The NFL can do as it sees fit, making decisions that advantage the league–regardless of whether those decisions represent morally appropriate judgment.
Sherman went on to say that the lack of implementation of the domestic violence policy is just ‘the tip of the iceberg’ regarding the NFL’s hypocrisy and inconsistency. Among other things, he accuses the league of turning players into ‘some sort of robots.’
Sherman would like to see a third-party arbitrator handle NFL suspensions and fines. That’s because he does not trust Goodell and believes the commissioner’s power needs to be checked.
Some of that power is due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that the player’s union and the league signed prior to the 2011 season. Specs associated with that agreement came to public attention during the Deflategate scandal.
Richard Sherman is currently serving as the Seahawks’ representative on the NFL Players Union. You can bet he won’t be silent when the CBA renewal is renegotiated following the 2020 season.
