Recently Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston was handed down a three-game suspension for a violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy. The suspension was handed down for a March 13, 2016 groping incident involving an Uber driver. Winston later released a statement apologizing to the driver for "the position I put you in", but never for actually assaulting the young woman. Buccaneers released a statement saying that they were disappointed in Winston for violating the personal conduct policy. The driver later released her own statement saying she was thankful for the apology even if it "needed work."
The problem with the apology and the short suspension are two-fold. First, while Winston did issue an apology he never admitted to what occurred that night in the Uber. This comes long after initially denying the assault even occurred at all and having a former teammate, Ronald Darby, attest to the same. The fact Winston apologizes now for the incident doesn't take away his original denials and should have been taken into consideration as part of his suspension.
Second, the length of his suspension is ridiculous given the nature of the accusation. It flies in the face of the league's own Personal Conduct Policy rule for the length of suspensions involving sexual assaults where the baseline is stated to be six games, regardless of whether the player is charged with a crime or not. How can Winston be facing a three-game suspension for an assault when Patriots QB Tom Brady was suspended four games for knowing about deflated footballs? If the argument is that Brady compromised the integrity of the game and Winston didn't, what does that say about the priorities of the league? It shouldn't just be about the integrity of the game, but also the integrity of the players who play it.
Women are an ever growing demographic for the league. It has to make a strong statement to the players, employees, owners and fans that violence against women is not acceptable. This cannot be done when players apologize for assaults and face minimal punishment for doing so.
Winston is playing under the final year of his rookie contract. The team has a fifth year option through 2019 but he will be under heavy scrutiny both on and off the field to determine if he will have a future with the Buccaneers or even in the NFL. While he has said that he has sworn off alcohol and turned his life around, all eyes will be on him moving forward. Eyes will be on the league as well and how they continue to handle incidents of violence against women.
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