Everything Gridiron

[Apollo]

...And the beat goes on:

The mother of Ray McDonald’s ex-fiancée called 911 early on Monday morning to report that McDonald had acted violently toward her daughter, broke down a door when she locked herself inside to avoid him, and tried to forcibly take their baby.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that an emergency call made at 3:48 a.m. said that the 6-foot-3, 290-pound McDonald “broke down” the door and tried to take the baby.

“She said she received a call from her daughter . . . advising that her boyfriend Ray McDonald was being violent,” a dispatcher said on a call relaying the call from McDonald’s ex-fiancée’s mother. “She tried to lock herself in her bedroom but he broke the door down . . . Ex is trying to leave now with her infant.”

Police showed up to the ex-fiancée’s apartment, but by that point she and the baby were safe, and McDonald had left. Police determined that the woman had been assaulted, and they found McDonald at a San Jose home registered to his former 49ers teammate Justin Smith. McDonald was arrested and has since been released on $15,000 bail. He was released by the Bears hours after his arrest.

McDonald was also arrested and accused of assaulting his ex-fiancée nine months ago, while she was pregnant. He was ultimately not charged in that case after she declined to cooperate with the investigation.

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/Headli...ticleId=357798

The NFL can't seem to get through an off-season without a bunch of this craziness. It will continue to be like this until teams collectively start valuing character above all else. So pretty much it will continue to be like this forever...

My question is this, is it just me or does the NFL have far, far more incidences than any other pro sport? Is it a football culture thing I wonder? I know there are a lot of really good people who play the game but maybe a small group of them thinks its manly to beat their women and children? Or beat, stab, shoot, murder people for that matter?

[Mack North]

One thing you have to remember is that there are more players in NFL than almost all the 3 other major north american sports leagues put together... still no excuse, but im sure these guys are treated like gods from the time theyre youngins, and since theyre bigger, stronger and faster than most everyone else, I'm sure they develop some sort of complex where they believe they can't be talked down to by anyone. This would surely translate into home life and domestics are bound to happen.

It's all pretty disgusting to hear, and we as sports fans and most of society let it slide because they play for our favourite teams. Any regular Joe off the street would be persecuted much harder than these disgraceful monsters.

Greg Hardy just joined the Cowboys. I'm not happy about it as a person, but I bet I'll be there cheering on his first sack(sad on my part, I know). As long as theyre tried in court and do their time, i believe in second chances... The child beaters are much worse in my eyes though, which is why I really do not want AP coming to Big D. That animal plead out and really got nothing for his crime. And the judicial system let him walk.

[Apollo]

MLB has 40 men rosters. I hardly ever hear of baseball players getting in trouble for anything besides drug use. The NFL has 53 men rosters and the league is plagued by a small group of violent selfish a-holes. In any other place in society they'd get one chance but in the NFL it seems like it's five strikes and you're out... Unless it's caught on film.

When Jerry signed this guy he sent a message loud and clear that all that's important is winning. Bottom line, the most successful team of this era is the New England Patriots and they have virtually no filter when it comes to poor character. As long as teams like this make it work others will try to go that way even though teams like the Steelers and Packers have won it while keeping much higher standards.



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[Mack North]

MLB is only 25 man rosters actually. But I get what you're saying. Winning and money is the bottom line in sports. These teams and owners don't really give a rats ass what the people think, they know they'll be supported regardless so why not sign these a-holes? If there is a huge backlash, do what the Bears, Ravens and others have done - release the guy.

[Mack North]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12...rder-violation

Arrested twice in 72 hours! Settin' records that might be hard to break for other NFLers!

[Apollo]

Total Alienation From Fans Complete

For some reason Peterson thinks that his 2014, with only one game played because of a messy legal situation that involved injuring his young son when he disciplined him with a switch, should lead to the Vikings giving him more guaranteed money. Which is crazy. Much crazier than his request to be traded, actually.

Peterson took to Twitter to try to set the record straight, with a long series of tweets.

I love people who think they know it all! Smh, Research how many NFL teams hasn't honored a player's contract & learn something.
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
Question for the people, is a contract two sided or one?
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
Ok great two sided! Well why when one party decides ... Mr. ? we wan't you to take a pay cut now or better yet flat out release you!
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
There's never no talk about honoring a contract!
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
I know hundreds of player's that wished their team would've HONORED the contract! But instead got threw to the side like like trash.
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
A lill crazy how one side has so much power that they can do as they please when it come to the contract! But when the other-side (player's)
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
Feels for whatever reason! Family, Change of scenery or simply - what they feels just might work best for them! Those same laws don't apply!
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
It's all about honoring you're contract! Sounds like free will is being a lil challenged to me!
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015

Peterson is getting paid $12.75 million this season, and for all intents and purposes that's guaranteed because the Vikings aren't cutting him this year (if they did, good luck to Peterson finding a better deal at this point). His $14.75 million salary for 2016 is not guaranteed. That's pretty much life for anyone in the NFL, and probably should be the same for a player who appeared in one game last season, and got paid for most of the year while he was on the commissioner's exempt list. Peterson signed that contract — which is an incredible deal for a running back in this era — with that non-guaranteed money, by the way.

And Peterson comparing his situation, where he's practically assured of making $12.75 million this year (again, a phenomenal amount of cash for a running back these days), to others who have been cut when their usefulness runs out, is just incorrect. The situation he's referencing has almost nothing to do with his own.

I think we can all agree he didn't do anything over the past year to earn $14.75 million more in guaranteed money. Peterson has acted like a victim through his whole ordeal. It's a bit odd.

He does have "free will," so he can retire and pass up the $40-plus million left on his contract. A few NFL players retired this offseason.

So Peterson came back with more later.... He probably read replies from all those fans who think he's absolutely ridiculous and greedy:

UPDATE: But wait, there's more! Peterson returned later on Thursday night to say that all of this is just because he is frustrated that the union could not get guaranteed contracts four years ago when it negotiated the CBA. Huh.

To clarify, since analysts & everyone else have the answers to what place in MY Heart this "rant" came from...
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
This is not against the Vikings. I am just frustrated that our union did not get guaranteed contracts for its players.
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
NFL players deserve guaranteed contacts like Our NBA and MLB brothers.
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
. Owners have the right to release players, at will, without honoring their contracts.
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 28, 2015
However, players do not have the luxury of saying that they want out of their contract. And I won't even get into the franchise tag convo
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 29, 2015
#PlayersUnion #TogetherAchangeWillcome
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) May 29, 2015

Source: Yahoo Sports

Vomit figuratively free flows from Peterson's fingertips every time he touches a phone or keyboard it would seem. He still had all the people who believe in teaching kids through violence before he sent this out but now? They probably think he's a tool.

[Axel]

Dez Bryant looks likely to hold out without a new deal. Do players ever actually win by holding out?

[Mack North]

I don't think it'll get to a holdout. He wants to be in Big D, and Jerry and the gang know he's one of the most important pieces to the team.

[Apollo]

They let Emmitt holdout one year for the first two games of the season. This is different though because they lost DeMarco Murray and so if they want to make the playoffs and maybe score home field they need to hit the ground running. Hard to do that when you're short your most explosive player.

[Apollo]

Breaking: Brady Is The Man

No details of Tom Brady's appeal of a four-game suspension were immediately available after a 10-hour hearing, but a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter that "Tom Brady's greatest ally today was Tom Brady."

Sources also told Schefter that Brady came off as genuine, earnest and persuasive, addressing every issue raised in the league-sanctioned Wells report during Tuesday's long meeting.

One of the sources called it "an A-plus performance."

Brady was suspended by the NFL for his role in the use of deflated footballs in the Patriots' AFC Championship Game win over Indianapolis in January.

For more click here: ESPN.com

...Yay?

[Apollo]

Breaking: Brady Isn't The Man

Those paid to exonerate Patriots quarterback Tom Brady were wowed by his performance at Tuesday’s appeal hearing, #asexpected. Those who suspended him in the first place weren’t. #Asexpected.

Per a league source, Brady simply reiterated his denial regarding any involvement in or knowledge of whatever it was that John Jastremski and Jim McNally may have been doing with the team’s footballs. When pressed on certain facts relating to Brady’s potential knowledge or involvement, the answers were regarded by some in the room (i.e., some who aren’t paid to exonerate Brady) as not entirely credible.

Apparently, Brady’s case hinged heavily on attacking the science, under the broader umbrella of taking the position that: (1) he didn’t do anything wrong; and (2) Ted Wells can’t prove that Brady did. The question then becomes whether the NFL is willing to throw out the entire Wells report based on the flaws in the science (and the science is definitely flawed), or whether the NFL continues to be troubled by the Jastremski-McNally exchanges and Brady’s answers to questions about his interactions with either or both of them.

Most importantly, it’s unlikely that the Commissioner will fully exonerate Brady because the Commissioner nearly lost his job last year by not going far enough in disciplining a player. When the Commissioner goes too far, eventually having his decisions overturned by some independent party, he suffers little or no P.R. fallout.

For more click here: Profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/

...Yay?

[Axel]

3 players suspended today for 4 games, including Antonio Gates for PEDS.

[Apollo]

Gates is getting old. I get why he might be tempted to get an edge to keep up with the game.

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[Apollo]

McClain in Dallas and Richardson in NYC(Jets) also are guys who got four game bans.

[Apollo]

Josh Gordon Update

While staying on the topic of substance abuses, here's a Josh Gordon update:

The Browns haven't washed their hands of Josh Gordon.

A Browns official has corresponded with Gordon this offseason, according to a source. Gordon is serving a one-year suspension for multiple violations of the league's drug and alcohol policy.

Agent Drew Rosenhaus told the Cleveland Plain Dealer earlier this month that Gordon gets up to 10 drug or alcohol tests monthly and has remained clean.

"It's a difficult process, and it's meant to be difficult, obviously," Rosenhaus told the newspaper. "But I've got faith in him, and he'll get through this tough time and he still has a very bright future in the NFL, in my opinion."

That bright future can't begin until February, when Gordon is up for reinstatement. He can't rejoin team activities until the NFL allows him to do so.

If he were on the level of Brian Hartline no one in the NFL would even remember his name now but because of his massive gifts he's got a shot to right his wrongs. I hope he does it because he has the potential to be one of the all-time greats.