VITO'S VIEWS

So why didn’t NFL commissioner Roger Goodell discipline Tyreek Hill?

Was Goodell extending an olive branch to the NFLPA when he decided not to suspend or fine Kansas City’s Hill because of the domestic abuse allegations he is facing?

I actually thought Goodell did the right thing because the prosecutors decided not to file charges, saying they couldn’t determine whether Hill or his fiancée abused their three-year-old son. Both said they used hands to spank him and belts to whip him but denied abusing him.

I think the NFL should let law enforcement decide whether to charge players. If they aren’t convicted of a crime, I don’t think the NFL should discipline the players.

Instead, they decided to have Hill undergo clinical evaluation and therapeutic intervention, which is obviously a good idea since Hill seems to have anger issues. Hill will benefit from that more than he will from being suspended and/or fined.

Continue reading “Not suspending Chiefs’ Hill was a rare correct move from Goodell”

Blog post updated Aug. 1, 2019

Imagine an elite pass rusher hitting the open market in free agency in his prime in March of 2022, weeks before his 27th birthday.

Imagine what he could command on the open market.

Since Bruce Smith, as Peter King of NBC Sports recently noted, recorded 108 sacks after the age of 30, a pass rusher just shy of his 27th birthday would be just reaching his prime.

He could probably set a new market for pass rushers.

The highest paid pass rusher currently is Khalil Mack at $23.5 million, although he is a linebacker.

Continue reading “UPDATED: Ngakoue’s long-term future with Jaguars appears up in the air”

It could be argued that the best contract in history for an NFL player was the three-year, $2.1 million deal O.J. Simpson got from the Buffalo Bills in the 1970s.

It doesn’t sound like much today but at the time, it was close to double the salary of the second highest-paid player in the league, New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning.

While Simpson was making $733,000 a year, Manning was making in the $400,000 to $450,000 range.

Never again will there be that much of a difference between the two highest-paid players.

And it is likely again that no running back will ever be the highest-paid player in the league.

Continue reading “Running backs are fading fast on the NFL’s pay scale”

When will the NFL owners understand that “no means no” when they try to push the players for an 18-game schedule?

The players have rejected it numerous times, but that doesn’t stop the owners from bringing it up.

And the players are right in always rejecting it.

Not only is it a bad idea for the players in an era when player safety is a major concern, but it’s also bad for the game and bad for the fans.

The fact there are only 16 regular-season games a year makes them special. A lot is on the line in every game.

Continue reading “NFL owners need to stop pushing idea of an 18-game regular season”

The life and times and untimely death of Steve McNair is much more than a sports story.

It has elements of a Shakespearean tragedy because, despite his exploits on the field, there was so much promise unfulfilled.

This is the 20^th anniversary season of his lone Super Bowl appearance, when McNair brought the Tennessee Titans back from a 16-0 deficit only to see Kevin Dyson fall a yard short of sending the game against the then-St. Louis Rams into overtime.

And this week is the 10^th anniversary of his death on July 4, 2009, when his mistress shot him to death and then turned the gun on herself and committed suicide.

The way McNair died shocked even his former teammates, because it was such a contrast to the image he had as a family man with four sons who was noted for being generous in the community.

Continue reading “Steve McNair’s career and life a story of what could have been”