Multiple reports indicate that Colts veteran Isaiah Rodgers and several other NFL players are set to be hit with year-long suspensions as the league continues to investigate gambling violations.
The league has strict rules for its players to not bet on any NFL games, to not bet on any sports from team facilities or hotels, to have other people place bets for themselves, to not enter a sportsbook during the NFL season, and to not play daily fantasy football.
With that in mind, Boomer Esiason sounded off on WFAN in New York on players declaring ignorance when it comes to the league’s policies, as violations and suspensions continue to pile up.
“For the players out there saying, ‘I don’t know the rules,’ that’s BS, totally,” Boomer said. “I do know that the NFLPA should be putting it into their union members’ heads, ‘You can’t do this. Here are the rules, we’ll send them to you a thousand different ways. Email, text, TikTok, social media, whatever the hell else. DMs, we’ll slide into your DMs with the rules so you know what the hell is going on, because that’s where you spend most of your day anyway, in your freaking phone.’
“I know for a fact that the Jets and Giants, in OTAs and minicamps, went over these policies with their teams incessantly so they know what they can and cannot do. So, any player that comes out and says, ‘Well, they didn’t tell me,’ that’s a pile of crap. It’s on the player to be the professional that you’re supposed to be and earn the money that you’re earning and play in a league that you’re privileged to play in, and protect that league’s integrity by not betting on the league.”
Boomer noted that gambling addiction is serious and could be a struggle for some players in the league, but the NFL has avenues for those players to get the support they need, and they need to seek that out.
“Those guys need help,” Boomer said. “They need help to understand that they can’t do this, and maybe they’re doing this because it’s so easy to pick up a phone and just open an app and just do it. They like doing it, and they get something out of it. There’s also that mental part of it, where maybe they do need help. But they have to ask for it.”