Bell: Adrian Peterson case continues unending standoff
Adrian Peterson has proven he can come back from a shredded knee in record time and put up more than 2,000 rushing yards in a season.
He has also proven he can whoop his four-year-old son with a switch so badly to move a pediatrician to contact child welfare authorities, leading to his plea deal in a Texas court to settle child abuse charges.
Now we'll see whether Peterson, 29, can run roughshod over Roger Goodell and bring the NFL's disciplinary system – left reeling by recent events -- to its knees.
Peterson and the NFL players union immediately challenged the NFL's suspension announced Tuesday that would wipe out at least the remainder of the season for the Minnesota Vikings running back.
Let's get one thing straight amid all the noise: Peterson is no martyr.
As much as I've enjoyed watching him slash and burn defenses, this is a mess that he got himself into. I can't feel sorry that he got a six-game suspension and is prescribed to undergo counseling on top of his court-ordered obligations. Sure, he missed nine games already this season after agreeing to go on the commissioner's exempt list, but he was paid roughly $7.5 million for the NFL's version of paid administrative leave.
The suspension, if upheld, will cost him about $4.15 million in base salary – on top of the lost revenue of endorsement and the stain on his reputation.
If it strikes you as a bit sticky the NFL Players Association is going to bat for a child abuser amid a climate of increased attention on domestic violence issues, then understand the bigger picture.
This battle, with the appeal part of the grievance process in the labor deal, is about NFL protocol. It's also another opportunity for the NFLPA to go after a principle – the personal conduct policy orchestrated by Goodell – it abandoned during the lockout in 2011 when the sides ultimately agreed on a new labor deal.
After the 10-year collective bargaining agreement was struck, I asked NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith why they gave up on going after Goodell's power over disciplinary issues. He said there were bigger priorities, like the economics of the deal. When the owners didn't budge on the Goodell power play, it wasn't like the players were willing to miss any paychecks in taking a stand.
It's been suggested the NFL and NFLPA should just collaborate now (yes, they've talked) and hash out a new conduct policy for the sake of all involved. How naïve. Even with Goodell maintaining "everything is on the table" for a new policy, it's never easy for these two sides to agree.
Remember how long it took to get HGH testing finally implemented? More than three years.
Since the pact was struck that locked in the players for such a long period the NFLPA has repeatedly tried to cast arguments on the discipline issue as a labor negotiation. Seems like they had the chance before.
Then again, this is a pro football version of The Hundred Years War. There's always a negotiation. Yet so much is left to interpretation. When the NFL talked last year about pursuing expanded playoffs, the NFLPA called the prospect as a change in working conditions that needed to be bargained – and the NFL disagreed.
In Peterson's case, the NFLPA points to inconsistencies in applying discipline, and there are many examples over the years. The length of the suspension, though, is consistent with what Goodell outlined when unveiling a new domestic violence policy on Aug. 28, when the standards changed amid the furor over the original Ray Rice two-game suspension.
Peterson's case is bolstered when considering the child abuse case stemmed from an incident in May – several months before that revised domestic violence policy took effect. But that also doesn't mean he'll get a lighter punishment, when the authority to make the call rests with Goodell. The union's contention that "an NFL executive" pledged Peterson's nine games on the exempt list would count as time served does not help its case.
Was that in writing?
Last week, in the argument for Peterson not staying on the exempt list, the NFLPA contended that it understood from an agreement letter that adjudication of the legal case would result in automatic reinstatement.
Different appeal, different argument.
It's not that the NFL, with the right intentions in taking a hard-line stand against Peterson, doesn't deserve pushback. It's just tough to buy the NFL's motives when morality issues are involved. What took so long to try changing the culture regarding domestic violence after decades of weak or non-existent punishment? Of course, the Rice video.
Consider the lawsuits by retired players over concussions, and another over pain-killers, and, yes, the racially insensitive team name of the NFL's Washington franchise, and there's so much to question about the way the NFL does business.
Still, it's the Peterson case under review now. Another battle in a long war.
Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.