Ben Roethlisberger was disciplined by the NFL in 2010 under a different collective bargaining agreement and a different set of rules.
His case is not comparable to Deshaun Watson’s, and had Roethlisberger had his off-field issues under this current collective bargaining agreement, there is a very good chance he would have received no discipline at all.
So, let’s start there and stop with the phony outrage in comparing Roethlisberger’s suspension to the recommendation of arbitrator Sue Robinson of six games for Watson. The two cases aren’t similar because the rules both cases happened under were different.
In 2010, Roger Goodell had all of the power to decide whatever he wanted in these player conduct decisions, and he could do so for whatever reason he wanted. Now, in the NFL under the CBA that was agreed to in 2020, all of these cases go to an independent arbitrator who judges the case on the facts and doesn’t care about public relations or protecting the shield. That’s exactly what Sue Robinson did — she looked at all of the facts of the Watson case and came up with her decision: It merited a six-game suspension.
And let’s remember this, too: Robinson was hired by — and agreed upon by and paid by — both the NFL and NFLPA. This should be the end of this saga, and Watson should serve his six games and move on.
But the NFL can now appeal the decision, and Goodell is who they will appeal to, which seems like the deck is stacked against Watson. Goodell is worried about the image and the optics of it, so there is a thought he will likely overturn the suspension and make it at least a year.
That may win Goodell a few points among the clueless, but a move like that would be 100% about the optics of it all and has nothing to do with some noble pursuit of showing how much he cares about victims of sexual assault. Optics are as disingenuous a reason to suspend a player — or do any action — as there is because it has nothing to do with sexual assault victims and everything to do with trying to limit the backlash among fans, women’s rights groups and sponsors.
Goodell is free to rule whatever he wants, but it will likely blow up in his face and become a bigger disaster than it already is if he tries to impose a suspension significantly longer than the six games recommended by Robinson.
That’s because there is no further appeals process the NFLPA can take, so they will be forced to take it to federal court. If the case gets to federal court, a few things could happen, starting with the fact the Watson camp can file for a stay pending the outcome of the case. It could take a whole year before this case came up in federal court, which would mean Watson could play this year with no suspension, much like Tom Brady did in 2016, as he waits.
Also, when it comes to these labor law cases, federal judges are generally going to go with the guidelines set by an arbitrator if you look at precedent. That’s especially true if the arbitrator was agreed on by both sides in the labor dispute like Robinson was. That doesn’t even begin to get into the fact Watson’s camp could force the NFL to air a whole lot of dirty laundry about past discipline of owners, for instance, and many other things that could be dragged into court.
The real strength of the case against Watson probably died when the two grand juries he was in front of didn’t indict him. Absent criminal charges, this was always going to be a much more difficult case for the NFL to make, the need to suspend Watson for some long period of time. The fact the grand juries didn’t offer an indictment means the evidence against Watson doing anything that reaches the level of criminal was just not there.
I don’t know the truth about what Watson did or didn’t do. I don’t and won’t pretend to, either. Watson has to live with the fallout from this, what this has done to his reputation and what his name will always be associated with. He definitely hasn’t enhanced his reputation, and he doesn’t seem like a person of high moral standards.
All of that, though, has nothing to do with the legal process, due process, the NFL’s current discipline policy or the ruling made by Robinson. Optics and public relations may be the chief worry of Goodell and company, but none of that mattered to Robinson, whose ruling was strictly about the facts of the case. That’s how it should be, and now, the Watson camp has the big advantage a ruling from an independent arbitrator provides if Goodell is dumb enough to try to take this any further.
The players wanted a more fair system of discipline under the conduct policy, and they got it, and it is up to Goodell to recognize that and let Robinson’s ruling stand. I don’t have to like the outcome, but I love the process by which it came about because at least it is fair and thoughtful and based on facts, not emotions and public relations.
