The NFL upholds Myles Garrett's suspension, showing its hypocrisy...again


Myles Garret tried to appeal his indefinite suspension today in New York. In less than two hours, his hearing ended and he walked out with no indication whether or not he was successful. Now, word has come out that the NFL is upholding its decision to suspend him. Here's the thing:

Garrett shouldn't be suspended at all.

At the very least, he shouldn't be punished as harshly as he was for hitting Mason Rudolph on the head with a helmet. Was it brutal? Absolutely. Was it uncalled for? I mean there was less than a minute left in the whole game and his team was winning, so...no.

Is this the first time something like this has happened? Absolutely not.

First, let's just get this out of the way: in the NFL rule book, it clearly lays out that the maximum punishment for a player that uses a helmet as a weapon. The maximum punishment is a 15-yard penalty and an automatic disqualification from the game.

That's it.

Nowhere does it say that the player will be suspended for an undisclosed amount of time. Here's a link, page 51 of the rule book lays it out.

While it's not surprising the league is punishing Garrett, albeit heavy-handedly. It is surprising that they're punishing him so harshly. Especially since they have a history of light suspensions for worse offenses.

Here are three other things NFL players did just as bad or worse than what Garrett did:

1) In 2014, Ray Rice was caught on camera beating his wife, as reported first by TMZ Sports.




Rice was suspended for two games.


2) We can't forget this gem when Antonio Brown drop kicked the Browns' punter for no apparent reason at all.



All Brown got was a slap on the wrist and a fine of $8,200.


3) A popular talking point when people debate the Garrett-Rudolph brawl. In 2014, Defensive End Antonio Smith ripped Richie Incognito's helmet off and smacked him in the face with it.



Smith was only suspended for a total of two (2) preseason games and one (1) regular-season game.


For literally the same exact crime. Do you see why the NFL kinda sucks when they punish their players?

Listen, Garrett deserves to be punished. Hell, he does deserve a few game suspension, even though the code of conduct doesn't lay out any groundwork for that kind of punishment. However, when you look at what he's done compared to Antonio Brown, Antonio Smith, and Ray Rice, he doesn't deserve his suspension length at all.

If the NFL wants to punish their players for acting disorderly, that's fine, they should. However, they need to create some sort of standard they can judge all there players by. It shouldn't be a play it by ear type situation like it feels like now.

It's just sloppy.

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