Vincent Blasts NFLPA For Spending Money On Legal Defense
 Troy Vincent blasted the NFLPA for spending money on player's defense,stating money could be better spent elsewhere. (USA TODAY Images) |
In another bizarre twist of the Deflate-gate saga, NFL VP Troy Vincent lamented the waste of “millions and millions of dollars” by the NFLPA on the defense of NFL players suspended or fined by the league.
The NFL VP sat down with ESPN’s Ashley Fox earlier this week and took the union to task for defending the likes of Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice, Greg Hardy and of course Tom Brady when he said the money could be better spent elsewhere.
"Look at the amount of money being spent on legal fees for a handful of people," said Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations. "It's millions and millions of dollars, and we've got players that are hurting. We've got young men who don't know how to identify a good financial adviser. Men are in transition who aren't doing well, and yet $8-10 million a year is spent in court fees about who should make a decision on someone, who in some cases has committed a crime.
"Think about that logically. Wouldn't it be better to spend our time and resources on the issues that are vital to our players … past, present and future … such as the players' total wellness and growing the game together?"
Ah Mr. Vincent while you’re at it, the league could have saved another $5 million and given it to needy ex-players without the unneeded, self-serving, and poorly investigated Wells Report.
He stated again and again that his job was to “protect the integrity of the game”, Vincent spoke about equity adding he owes it to the players and fans to be fair.
“There are several aspects to that, such as establishing a culture of clarity, consistency and credibility to players, coaches, clubs and fans in order to develop the future player, preserve and innovate the game and protect the NFL brand,” Vincent said.
“As a former player, it's not about punishment. I owe it to my colleagues to preserve the game and make sure there's equity across the board.”
What he failed to mention of course was that much of the money being spent by the NFLPA is part of the due process afforded all citizens by the Constitution. Apparently he feels that once the league doles out their at times draconian punishment that it should be done deal.
Equity? While talking about players committing crimes, the NFL suspended Ray Rice for two games for knocking his then fiancé out in an elevator. Brady’s heinous crime was to be “generally aware” that someone may or may not have tampered with the air pressure in a football. Brady was suspended four games and the Patriots were docked a first round draft pick in 2016 and fourth rounder in 2017…plus a million bucks.
Part of the suspension both Vincent and Roger Goodell have stated resulted from Brady not turning over his cell phone and emails to the league. This is the league that leaked out more self-serving false information than Baghdad Bob. But in their defense, the league did suspend Brett Favre for refusing to turn over his phone in the sexting scandal while he was with the Jets.
Wait! What?....that’s right Favre wasn’t suspended, just fined $50,000. Sounds like a pretty equitable decision by the league. What about the other incidents involving footballs by the Chargers a few seasons ago using a “sticky substance” on a towel to help grip the football and the use of warming towels in the game by the Vikings and Panthers in 2014.
No need for Wells and Exponent to concoct an elaborate story here…cut and dried right? Well the Bolts were fined $25,000 and the Vikings and Panthers received a letter, asking them “please….don’t do it again.” There is your equity or as Jeff Foxworthy is so fond of saying, “There’s your sign”.
Of course those same over-spending NFLPA attorney’s took up the cause of many of the Saints players when they were caught up in another version of the league’s overreaction to a scandal and once in court, season-long suspensions were vacated. Hmmm.
The “integrity of the game” issue obviously doesn’t apply to the league when it leaks out false information to news networks to inflame the issue and then once the facts show otherwise, never release a statement saying otherwise.
When exactly did Goodell see the Ray Rice video? And what about VP Dean Blandino? Didn’t he state on Jan. 29 that the first he heard of any hoopla of the Patriots’ footballs was at halftime of the AFC Championship. This was AFTER he received an email that was passed down thru channels from Colts GM Ryan Grigson. Blandino felt compelled enough to instruct Walt Anderson to ensure that proper protocol for the footballs was followed. Oops, a not so little white lie there.
Anderson failed in his task, letting the footballs waltz out of the officials room after using two wildly fluctuating gauges to measure the footballs to begin with…There’s your sign.
The best statement on the entire fiasco was put by NFLPA attorney George Atallah who stated, “You consider infinite number of ways to respond to something like this,” Atallah said, “and simple is best: ‘small'”
When trying to make sense of the NFL and the league office’s handling of this and other cases, it brings to mind Val Kilmer’s role of Doc Holliday in the western “Tombstone”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub8uMcLiKJk
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