In the wake of several NFL players admitting they were unaware of the same rule in the league's gambling policy that led to Jameson Williams' six-game suspension, Karsch and Anderson believe the Lions should appeal the suspension on the grounds that the NFL failed to properly educate its players.
Williams violated the policy by placing a bet on a non-NFL game from an NFL facility, a rule that he didn't even know existed, he admitted last week. In a story published Monday by The Athletic, four of five players surveyed said they also weren't aware of that rule until it snared Williams.
"I had no idea,” said a seven-year vet. “I don’t think any player knows about that. That’s so specific." He called Williams -- and fellow Lions receiver Stanley Berryhill III, who was suspended (and subsequently released) for the same reason -- "sacrificial lambs."
Asked about the length of Williams' suspension considering the infraction, a different player said, "That’s bogus because straight up, that’s not talked about like that. That could have been any one of us." Another player said he didn't "recall seeing (signs that said) no gambling on team property," and yet another said that while everyone understands they can't bet on the NFL, "If
somebody gets in trouble for betting on another sport, I don’t think (the NFL) made that clear enough for players."
Gator says the Lions should "take this information" to commissioner Roger Goodell and appeal on Williams' behalf:
"Look, this is a league-wide problem because clearly people didn’t recognize that this was an issue. (If you're the NFL), why not revisit these suspensions and say, 'OK, we understand we didn’t do a good enough job in educating the players. Lesson learned. Before any harm is done to these players’ careers, why don’t we rescind the six-game suspensions.' If you want to go with three games, fair enough. You could shoot for none, but it ain’t going to happen."
The NFL is directly responsible for educating its players on league policies. In this regard, the league appears to have failed -- which is why the Lions are now taking matters into their own hands. Gator says the NFL "shouldn't want to have players missing games for basically nonsense:"
"I think there’s still time to amend it and make something right here. Jameson should not have to miss six games for betting on, say, a basketball game in November when he happened to be in the locker room, particularly if he had no idea about the rule. And now you have a story saying he isn’t alone in not knowing it."
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