NFL Suspensions Headed in the Right Direction

Steeler fans rejoiced in unison yesterday. It was announced that the league had upheld Vontaze Burfict's 3-game suspension after his vicious hit on Antonio Brown. I see this as a major victory for the NFL and player safety.

It seems like nowadays everybody expects suspensions to be reduced, whether its LeVeon Bell's suspension reducing from 3 games to 2, or the more drastic Greg Hardy suspension being reduced from 10 to 4. I imagine I wasn't the only person worried that Burfict would get off easy. So I was, and still am, thrilled to see the league sticking to its guns regarding the issue of player safety.

It appears that the like the league is finally taking the right steps towards enforcing player safety. I'm sure many fans and fantasy footballers recall Odell Beckham Jr being suspended for 1 game after his cheap shot on JoshNorman. As well, Aqib Talib was suspended for 1 game this year after pokingDwayne Allen in the eyes.

Extreme circumstances like these two certainly call for suspension, but Roger Goodell recently hinted at taking things even further. Last week he had this to say:

"I believe the league should pursue a policy where if there are two personal fouls in a game, there's an automatic ejection of a player, I believe that that's consistent with what we believe are the safety issues, but I also believe it's consistent with what we believe are the standards of sportsmanship that we've emphasized."

This statement has caused a lot of controversy, but I personally support this idea. I think this proposal would enforce accountability for the actions of players much more than a measly fine would. I think two personal fouls is fair as well. Accidental personal fouls, such as grabbing the face-mask, do happen sometimes. Rarely though do you see multiple personal fouls in a game unless these fouls are intentional

One popular tweet during the Super Bowl was "According to Roger Goodells idea, Aqib Talib would be ejected from the game." This fact stirred some people up. However, Talib later announced that he intentionalgrabbed Corey Browns face-mask.

"(Talib regarding the facemask) One I just did on purpose, and I just had to show him."

Now I'm not gonna lie, part of me kind of likes what Talib did. Aggressive, rough football, showing-him-who's-boss football. A lot of fans, including myself, enjoy this. However, I understand that plays like this is are dirty, could cause injury, and have no place in the NFL. Plays like this shine a poor light on football and the NFL. It's currently TBD whether or not the league i going to take action over this.

With all the news about concussions now-a-days, player safety needs to be emphasized more than ever. It seems pretty common lately for a story to be released about a former player having CTS; and surely the movie Concussion has helped inform people. Players are even starting to retire early due to this. Take former San Franciso LB Chris Borland for example. He had a great rookie year and showed a lot of potential, but chose to retire due to concerns over concussions and safety. Nobody blames him either.

To wrap things up, I'm happy with the direction the NFL is headed in. Are things going to get perfect and fixed instantly? Of course not. But knowing that they understand the need to start suspending overaggressive players is a great first step. The NFL needs to show players like Burfict and Talib that they will not stand for intentionally trying to harm players.

Thanks for reading.