This past weekend the 49ers made the decision to part ways with troubled young star Reuben Foster. The decision was seen as an effort by the team to save their image after Foster once again let the team down with his off field actions. As I stated in my previous blog, Foster's propensity towards violence should steer teams clear of him. However, just as predicted, a team took a chance and claimed the troubled player off waivers. The Redskins quickly took to Twitter to defend their decision with a hasty message claiming the team would let the legal process play out and any potential suspension from the league before he would get a chance to play for the team. Despite this claim many people were angered by the team's decision to give Foster a second chance.
Redskins are a team that recently lost their starting quarterback for the season and bypassed signing a Super Bowl contending quarterback in Colin Kaepernick to sign Mark Sanchez who has a career completion percentage of 56.7. Kaepernick's only "crime" was kneeling to protest systemic racism and social injustice. Foster has had repeated run ins with the law and a previous suspension from the league for his personal conduct. This is not a story of redemption for a player who has learned his lesson from a troubled past, this is a player who has been given more than one opportunity to correct his actions and has not done so. Giving him another pass does not help to teach him anything nor convey to him the seriousness of his actions. A team that once praised Goodell for his suspension of Ray Rice for his domestic violence altercation now seems hypocritical for their decision to claim Foster. This is a team who has been praised for starting the breast cancer awareness campaign in the league and now they show that women do not trump a player with questionable morals but great talent. Is this the message this team or the league wants to convey to their female fans and viewers?
Foster isn't the first player to be given another opportunity in the league. In 1996 Lawrence Phillips was drafted No. 6 by the St. Louis Rams after a violent history in college at Nebraska. Despite his propensity towards violence, the team was willing to take a chance on him. He was released after one season for his off field antics. The Dolphins were the next team to claim him but released him after just two games for assaulting a woman. After several more stops in professional football and more violent altercations, Phillips was out of football by 2003 (though his violent tendencies would continue long after his playing days were finished). In 2014, Greg Hardy was arrested for assaulting an ex-girlfriend. The Panthers did not release Hardy, but he never played another down for the team and was not re-signed in the offseason. Hardy would be handed down a 10 game suspension for his off field issues which was later reduced to just four games and made way for the Cowboys to sign him to a one-year deal in 2015. During this time Hardy sat down for an interview with ESPN's Adam Schecter and denied the domestic violence allegations despite evidence to the contrary. It was Hardy's lack of production and frequent issues with head coach Jason Garrett that lead to the team deciding not to re-sign him the following offseason not his violent history nor his denial of it.
As of now there is no telling that Foster is headed in the same direction as Phillips or Hardy, but given the fact this is a repeat offender, shouldn't a team take more than one day to vet a player and do their due diligence to make sure a player has the ability to control their anger and violent tendencies? Doesn't the team owe it to its fans to bring in players who exemplify the best qualities on and off the field? Don't female supporters deserve to know that the league does not support abusers over women? This league that was once prominent for its "No More" campaign against domestic violence is slipping into a dangerous territory of alienating half it's fan base if it continues to not take a hard stance against abusers. The Redskins are just one more example of this sad fact.
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