By now most football fans know that Jets wideout Braylon Edwards was arrested and arraigned on drunken-driving charges stemming from an incident on Tuesday where he was stopped on Manhattan's West Side around 5 a.m. Edwards, who was in the car with two other players and a fourth passenger, was given a breathalizer and blew more than twice the legal limit.
At a glance it seems like this would be yet another situation where NFL Commissioner, aka Judge, Roger Goodell would come down on Edwards with a hefty fine and suspension. At the very least the expectation would be that the Jets themselves take some form of disciplinary action. Unfortunately neither is going to happen, at least until the legal process runs it's course.
The reason is the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. According to the CBA, Edwards actions and subsequent arrest fall under the league's substance abuse policy. As such the only penalty that Edwards is currently eligible for is a forfeiture of half a game's pay. The Jets cannot suspend Edwards, nor can they deactivate him for Sunday's game against the Dolphins. In fact, they cannot even keep him active but refuse to play him. In short, Edwards will not only be in uniform on Sunday, but he will be on the field catching passes from Mark Sanchez.
Whatever happened to accountability? Forget the fact that Edwards is an idiot. Forget that the NFL has a contract with a company, that Edwards refused to use, that will provide transport to any player, anywhere, anytime, to any place. Why is this allowed to happen? The NFL and the NFLPA already have severe disciplinary actions in place for other offences. Why was drunk driving allowed to slip on through?
This isn't even the first time in recent memory that a player got into trouble for drinking and driving. A few years ago Donte Stallworth had a few too many to drink, got behind the wheel and killed someone. He was suspended for one season and one season only. At the very least he was very up front with his regret and refused to fight any charges against him and accept his punishment. Ok, but why did he feel like it was ok to get behind the wheel in the first place, better yet, why wasn't the NFL harsher on him?
Edwards should have known better, the two other players in the vehicle with him should have known better. But until the Goodell and the NFLPA pull their head's out of their backsides and really make an effort to change the culture that seemingly fosters this sort of behavior more and more incidents like this are going to happen. Hopefully change comes before another innocent life is lost.
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