The controversy of NFL player Ezekiel Elliot’s suspension has swept the nation. Elliot allegedly struck his then girlfriend, Tiffany Thompson, multiple times over the course of 2016 and 2017. However, many tend to believe that Thompson ether fabricated the extent of this incident or completely made up the incidents of him being violent toward her. Nonetheless, this changes nothing on the incumbency of the NFL suspension length consistency.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has frequently been called out for his flaws; one of these flaws is that he is inconsistent. To be a great leader, one must have some sense of regularity in his or her point of view. An example of Goodell suspending a player who committed the same offense is when former Ravens running back Ray Rice was charged with assaulting his girlfriend after hitting her across the face. Rice was indefinitely banned from the NFL as a result. On the other hand, in Elliot’s case where he also was charged with domestic violence, he has received no punishment at all as of October 11.

Another example of the NFL choosing to not suspend a player despite clear wrong doing is with respect to former Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon, who was a star player when he entered the league in 2012. Though proving to all his critics he had the talent, he had already failed two substance abuse tests while in college, the second one resulting in him being kicked off the Baylor football team. Regardless, many believed he had changed once he entered the NFL. Sadly, that was not that case. That off season, he was stopped for a DUI, but fortunately for him, he did not receive punishment. He did receive punishment since once again that same off-season he failed a drug test for marijuana, which resulted in him being given a two-game suspension, customary for a first penalty. However, over time, Josh Gordon failed several more tests, resulting in him finally being expelled from the NFL, but he has still been reinstated twice, pending a third reinstatement. This helps to prove that the NFL is becoming more lenient.

Critics of Elliot’s case argue that since he was proven innocent in a court of law, he should not be suspended at all. However, Elliott was not proven innocent in court until he sued the NFL for withholding information valuable to the court after his first appeal was denied. Although his lawsuit was later dismissed, Elliott still managed to change the verdict on his appeal and become suspension free. Therefore, it seems Elliot managed to manipulate his verdict by using a lawsuit to threaten the guilty verdict into submission. Since before the lawsuit was on the table, his appeal to the NFL was denied within two days, which is a rather short time and could indicate the decision to suspend him was quite obvious. Sophomore Bryan Hernandez even went as far as saying, “If the NFL doesn’t change its ways, I will just stop watching it all together.”

Therefore, Elliott, along with many other fortunate players such as Josh Gordon, has been given the benefit of’ the doubt from the NFL, which should not be the case. Regardless of skill and popularity, NFL players’ punishments should not only be consistent but also more severe.