If you find yourself with questions after five NFL players were suspended Friday for violating the league’s policy on sports betting, you are not alone.
The NFL suspended Detroit Lions wide receiver Quintez Cephus and defensive back C.J. Moore, plus Washington Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney, through at least the conclusion of the 2023 season for betting on league games in 2022 (the Lions responded by releasing Cephus and Moore). Lions wideouts Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill were also suspended for six games in 2023 for what the team said were “other gambling policy violations, including betting from an NFL facility on non-NFL games.”
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The actions raise so many questions: Why did the players think they could get away with this? How did anyone find out about it?
But here’s another one: Will this go down as a tale of player stupidity, or NFL hypocrisy?
How about both.
There’s no defending the actions of Cephus, Moore and Toney, who all apparently tried to make a little pocket change by placing wagers on NFL games. And Berryhill and Williams should have known better than to place bets on other sports while at work, since that is indeed something the NFL’s gambling policy for players forbids.
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Every May, each team’s player development department shows a video that covers the dos and don’ts of sports betting. Players are reminded of the policy when they return for training camp, and then those reminders continue to circulate during the regular season.
But it’s impossible to review this incident without addressing the hypocritical nature of the NFL’s policies for players on gambling.
It’s OK for the NFL to make billions of dollars off partnerships with legalized sports-betting companies (legal gambling was projected by the American Gambling Association to increase the NFL’s annual revenue by $2.3 billion per year). But players must abide by a different standard.
Neither Williams nor Berryhill, both second-year players, bet on NFL games. Docking them six game checks as punishment feels harsh and incredibly unfair.
It’s understandable why the NFL doesn’t allow players to bet on league games. That could lead to the temptation of game-fixing, which greatly threatens the credibility of the league.
But you would be hard pressed to find many associated with the NFL who understand the league’s ability to stipulate where acceptable forms of gambling on other sports can take place.
Sure, you can bet on NBA, MLB, NHL or NCAA contests, the league essentially tells players, but just don’t do it at our stadiums or practice facilities.
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How does that make sense when the CBA that the NFL’s owners and players agreed to in 2020 allowed for the establishment of sportsbooks in NFL stadiums?
It’s a dumb rule, and some would say a dumb mistake made by Williams and Berryhill.
But it’s another example of pro football’s owners wanting to maintain their grip over their players while also trying to make as much money as possible. Players were willing to accept the hypocrisy of the gambling policies in the latest collective bargaining agreement because more money for the league also translates into more money in their pockets, thanks to the agreed-upon revenue split between the NFL and NFLPA.
NFL officials and owners were kidding themselves, though, if they thought they could partner with sports-betting companies, plaster signage all over their stadiums and flood the airwaves with promotional content and not lure their players into the action.
Don’t think for a second that the five players who got busted are alone in their actions. Cephus, Moore and Toney, in gambling on NFL games, may be the only guys in the league to not learn from Calvin Ridley’s season-long suspension in 2022 for the same activity. But it’s naive to think this issue won’t arise again.
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So what can be done? Good question.
Perhaps the league needs to review the rule that prohibits players from betting on other sports while on team properties. A dude sitting in the team cafeteria, picking his winners for the night’s NBA slate, is not affecting an NFL game in any way.
But increased vigilance and stronger messaging decrying gambling on NFL games must rank among the league’s points of emphasis with its players. That still might not prevent every transgression.
Sports betting is here now, and the NFL chose to get in bed with legal providers in exchange for an obscene amount of money. The five players busted this week weren’t the first to transgress, and they will not be the last. It’s the price of doing business.
(Photo of Lions WR Jameson Williams: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)