The 2016 NFL Draft began on Thursday and with it came the usual drama that surrounds the NFL as a whole. This time, the drama came in the form that was quite similar to that of Johnny Manziel’s own draft year that caused a top 10 draftee prospect to drop to 13.
Just before the draft began, a video got posted on Laremy Tunsil’s Twitter account showing him smoking weed from a gas mask; minutes after it went viral, the video was deleted, and as the draft began, Tunsil’s account altogether was also deleted. Tunsil and his agent both claim that his Twitter had been hacked and the video is about two years old, but don’t deny that it is, in fact, Tunsil in the video. Teams, like the Baltimore Ravens, who were projected to pick Tunsil as early as the sixth pick, passed him up, making for tons of jokes on social media platforms and a lot of speculation from the analysts covering the event on television.
Not long after being drafted, Tunsil’s Instagram account was hacked with screenshots between him and Ole Miss assistant athletic director John Miller discussing not only receiving money for rent, but also money for his mother to pay her $305 electric bill. When asked in a press conference later if these screenshot were legitimate, Tunsil made the comment “Those were true. I made a mistake of that happening.” Tunsil also answered that, yes, he had accepted money (a clear violation of the NCAA rules) from coaches before being quickly ushered out of the press conference by an official.
After all of this went down, fans took to social media to criticize the rules for being “stupid rules anyway” and later Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL who is known for not really ever making players face any sort of consequences for their actions, made the comment, “I think it’s part of what makes the draft so exciting,” in regards to Tunsil’s draft day drama. These sort of comments only lead me to the idea that the NFL is doing more harm than good to their image when they say they’re trying to “clean up their act” when it comes to the character of their athletes.
Those who are writing off what happened show that they don’t understand the importance of it all. It’s not about sarcastically exclaiming “oh, wow, a college kid smoked pot... so surprising,” but it’s about the idea that the NFL already has a poor image when it comes to rule breaking and how they handle it and this only adds to that. This is a microscopic addition to a huge problem that exists. What fans, and ultimately Goodell, don’t understand is the importance of holding these athletes accountable for their actions. If they are never held accountable for breaking rules (yes, even the “stupid” rules), they end up in a Johnny Manziel-esque situation where a talented athlete gets away so many times with breaking “stupid” rules that it escalates into something bigger. I’m not, by any means, saying that Tunsil is going to go off the deep end and end his career with a domestic violence charge, but I am saying that if we show that certain rules don’t apply does that mean we are showing that if you’re good at your sport you can get away with just about anything?
Is this what we want? Do we want to show kids that as long as they are good at catching, throwing, kicking or protecting a ball of any sort then rules just simply don’t apply to them? Do bad, you’ll make millions anyway and no one is going to hold you accountable for the consequences that you should be facing. Besides, those rules are stupid. Is this really what the NFL is trying to show younger generations of athletes at the same time that they are pretending to care about ending domestic violence and sexual assault? Don’t they realize that if you’re showing these kids that the “stupid rules” don’t apply to them you’re also showing them that breaking the rules as a whole doesn’t apply to them. Those who say drug rules in sports are stupid because college kids are going to do college kid things ultimately are saying “Go ahead, punch your girlfriend. Go ahead, assault that girl at the party. You’re good at your sport, if you do our city right then we will conveniently forget that this ever happened.”
What it comes down to is the fact that these guys live in a fishbowl and in the time of social media, they are watched like hawks; every single move is monitored. If you have ANYTHING to lose, maybe taking a video of yourself smoking pot isn’t the smartest thing you could do, but holding onto the idea that you’re greater than the rules is possibly an even dumber thing that society allows these guys to believe. It’s not about a Twitter post, it’s not about a rule being “stupid”, but it’s about character, accountability and mindfulness; all areas of which the NFL seriously lack in. How can we expect these men to do better, to act better and have better character when we are also telling them that the “stupid” rules don’t apply- especially when terms like “stupid” are completely relative and what may be a stupid rule to one person is an important rule to another.
Do better, society. Do better, NFL. Do better, athletes. You have a huge stage with a lot of small eyes watching your every move; at the end of the day accountability applies in all areas of your choices on and off the field.
