The NFL Offseason/Calvin Ridley

The NFL offseason has seen no shortage of stories, news, drama, and more. Free Agency opens on March 16 at 1 PM EST. But in this week alone there has been no shortage of drama and stories beginning with Falcons star WR being suspended indefinitely.

Starting with Monday, March 7th, Calvin Ridley star WR for the Atlanta Falcons suspended indefinitely and at a minimum the entire upcoming season for betting on NFL games while he was away from the team. The NFL released in their statement that Ridley gambled on NFL games over five days. It is reported he placed $1,500 in bets on NFL games. As gambling has become more welcomed and accepted in today's sports landscape there have been massive amounts of people calling for Ridley to be re-instated or to simply be fined or at most suspended 4 to 6 games. Which is quite routine to see when players are pressed with domestic violence/assault charges. Darius Slay a CB for the Philadelphia Eagles expressed similar opinions via Twitter on 3.10.22 "Just been on my mind lately… the NFL is suspending Ridley for the whole yr but dudes out here beating up females a getting suspended 6 games!!".

I completely see Slay's point here it's ridiculous that members of the league can assault someone and only be suspended six games but someone gambling on games a whole year and potentially more. I think under the current CBA Ridley should be punished and we have seen this throughout all sports. Gambling on the game is not permitted whatsoever in the professional ranks and even the amateur ranks of the NCAA. Each collegiate athlete gets a long talk every year about how it is not okay to gamble on games, pro athletes get the same talk if not more. Ridley broke one of the leagues laws and put the league in a horrific position which Commissioner Roger Goodell expressed in a letter to WR Calvin Ridley "Your actions put the integrity of the game at risk, threatened to damage public confidence in professional football, and potentially undermined the reputations of your fellow players throughout the NFL.".

Ridley's best hope to get back in the NFL will be to apply for reinstatement after this coming season, and he might get lucky with Goodell. Goodell may re-instate Ridley due to his behavior during the investigation that started roughly a week before the Super Bowl. It is reported that Ridley was very considerate, aware, and acted promptly throughout the investigation which in the long run can be one of the biggest reasons Ridley could be welcomed back into the NFL. Several NFL teams tried to trade for Ridley but the Falcons said that they could not make any of these deals in 'good faith. This is a horrific start to the offseason for the Atlanta Falcons as they lose one of their stars and best offensive weapons. Although they do have an additional $11.1 million in cap space now available to try and fill the gap, unlike the Texans who still have Deshaun Watson's salary on their books.

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