Steve Dykes/Getty Images
Roger Goodell trusted his instincts this time and did the right thing by showing Adrian Peterson no compassion. He shut the child abuser down for the rest of the 2014 season.
Peterson should be familiar with a lack of compassion - but on a much more personal and serious level. He disciplined his four-year son by beating him with a tree branch, called a switch, and, as Goodell said in his letter to Peterson on Tuesday, 'you have shown no meaningful remorse for your conduct.'
Goodell suspended Peterson without pay for the last seven games of the Vikings season. At $691,000 per week - his base salary is $11.75 million - that would cost him $4.84 million. He will not be considered for reinstatement before of April 15 of next year. Goodell also ordered Peterson to undergo counseling.
Peterson is appealing Goodell's ruling, which means he remains on the commissioner's exempt list and will continue to be paid until a decision on the appeal is rendered.
Here is what I wrote in the Daily News on Nov. 5 after Peterson had plea bargained the felony charge in Texas to a misdemeanor:
'Goodell just needs to trust his instincts - he has beat himself up for not doing that with Ray Rice - and tell Peterson he's done for the 2014 season and to check back with him in the spring.'
Goodell made a huge statement to the league's 2,000 players Tuesday: Keep your hands off your wife, your girlfriend and your childen.
Peterson beat his child with a stick in a sick, barbaric attempt to teach him right from wrong. Was anybody but the most passionate AP supporter ready to see him back on the field? Were the NFL corporate sponsors going to threaten to end their relationship with the league if Peterson played again this year?
'Based on public reports of your statements and photographs that were made public at the time of the indictment, you used a 'switch' - a flexible tree branch - to punish your son, striking him in the ankles, limbs, back,
buttocks, and genitals, leaving visible swelling, marks, and cuts on his body and risking severe and long-term damage,' Goodell wrote in his letter to Peterson.
The commissioner noted, 'It appears that this is not the first time that you have punished children in this way. Public statements attributed to you indicate that you believe that this kind of discipline is appropriate and that you do not intend to stop disciplining your children this way.'
Billy Smith II/AP
Of course, the NFL Players Association is appealing, and just as in the Rice case, has asked for a neutral arbitrator. Peterson played in the first game of the season, then on the following Friday, the story broke that he had been indicted on child abuse charges. The Vikings deactivated him for the game two days later against the Patriots, but the following day announced he would play the next game at New Orleans.
After backlash from one of the Vikings main advertising partners and the NFL's corporate partners, Peterson was put in storage on the commissioner's exempt list two days later until his legal situation was resolved. He was still paid his $691,000 per week. The NFLPA is arguing that his time away should count as time served and he should be reinstated.
At the very least, Goodell was going to dig into Peterson's pocket and take out a bunch of money. But after initially whiffing on the Rice suspension by giving him only two games for punching his future wife in an Atlantic City elevator in February, everything changed when the elevator video went public on Sept. 8. The Ravens, who had stood behind Rice, immediately cut him and Goodell suspended him indefinitely.
Goodell also commissioned an investigation led by a former FBI director to look into how the NFL handled the Rice case. The investigation has been ongoing and the results have not been released. Goodell's credibility about what he knew and when he knew it is as stake, specifically with the elevator video.
The Rice hearing was held Nov. 5-6 and a decision is expected any day. Goodell was severely criticized for initially going soft on Rice, which led him to revise the personal conduct policy in late August, allowing him to suspend a player six games for his first violation.
Ann Heisenfelt/AP
He did it one game better with Peterson, who got into a spitting contest with the league when he refused their request to show up at a hearing on Friday. On Monday, a hearing was held by conference call to have him removed from the exempt list, but that becomes moot now with the suspension.
Peterson is the Vikings best player, but the publicity has been so negative it at least raises the issue whether they will want him back. They are moving into a new stadium in 2016 and will have lots of expensive suites and seats to sell. How does Peterson figure into that? He makes them a better team, but perhaps big money sponsors will want nothing to do with the Vikings as long as AP is on the roster.
Goodell's initial leniency with Rice was surprising. Goodell is a family man with a wife and twin daughters. He was obviously swayed by the NFL's precedent in handling domestic violence - it was way too soft - and by meeting with Rice and Palmer and with the legal system not even sending the case to trial and allowing Rice to enter a pretrial diversion program.
But with Peterson, he didn't hold back. He knew how Peterson's actions sickened people. If the legal system didn't make Peterson pay for beating his son other than a meaningfulness $4,000 fine and 80 hours of community service, then Goodell was not going to let him off.
'The injury was inflicted on a child who was only four years old,' Goodell wrote. 'The difference in size and strength between you and the child is significant, and your actions clearly caused physical injury to the child. While an adult may have a number of options when confronted with abuse - to flee, to fight back, or to seek help from law enforcement - none of those options is realistically available to a four-year old child. Further, the injury inflicted on your son includes the emotional and psychological trauma to a young child who suffers criminal physical abuse at the hands of his father.'
Goodell made a big mistake how he handled Rice. He got it right with Peterson.
Entities 0 Name: Peterson Count: 20 1 Name: Goodell Count: 17 2 Name: Rice Count: 6 3 Name: Vikings Count: 5 4 Name: NFL Count: 4 5 Name: AP Count: 2 6 Name: Billy Smith Count: 1 7 Name: Palmer Count: 1 8 Name: Atlantic City Count: 1 9 Name: Adrian Peterson Count: 1 10 Name: New Orleans Count: 1 11 Name: Patriots Count: 1 12 Name: Texas Count: 1 13 Name: Roger Goodell Count: 1 14 Name: Ravens Count: 1 15 Name: NFLPA Count: 1 16 Name: FBI Count: 1 17 Name: NFL Players Association Count: 1 18 Name: Ray Rice Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1unA4NA Title: Vikings RB Adrian Peterson's case heard by arbitrator Description: A grievance hearing pertaining to Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson's potential reinstatement played out in a brief conference call Monday afternoon as the NFL continued to mull discipline that figures to trigger the next phase of its battle with the players union.