In a post–Ray Rice world, the NFL is fully aware of how it’s perceived when it comes to situations involving transgressions against women. That incident, eight years ago, was a flashpoint, but certainly not an endpoint for the league. Whether further incidents centered on team owners (I count four who’ve been involved in such situations over the past five years alone), the workplace, players or staff, the U.S.’s most popular sports league can’t seem to get out of its own way in these circumstances.
Thursday’s news was another illustration of the knot the NFL has tied itself in.
The past few months, to me, showed the league trying to thread a needle—showing that it is tougher on these matters than it used to be while avoiding another protracted battle in federal court with a player—and find the right exit point from a story that’s hovered over the league for a year and a half now. On the latter count, the NFL can now say it was successful in getting Watson and his camp to sign off on the 11-game suspension, $5 million fine and evaluation-and-treatment plan the quarterback accepted.
