News broke Friday morning that the Commanders’ Shaka Toney was one of five players suspended for violating the NFL’s gambling policies, him and two others banned indefinitely but at least through the end of the 2023 season.
BMitch & Finlay welcomed in Pat Leonard, who covers the NFL for the Daily News in New York City, to talk about the suspensions – and he agreed there’s a little hypocrisy within them.
“It’s a shame, man,” Leonard said. “Whether it’s a bigger name or not, it’s unfortunate, and the hypocrisy does seem to stare you in the face. We sit down and watch games, and you see a thousand commercials to load money into one of these apps and bet, but these guys can’t. I guess it’s part of the gig, though. They do have meetings about this and team educate the guys, so it’s not like they don’t talk about it.”
Something interesting Leonard mentioned is that all gambling websites and apps are blocked inside the New York Giants’ facility, so you can’t even access them at all, even though some of the apps have partnerships with casinos that allow anyone to play casino games as well and not even look at the betting side of the equation.
“You know how many times I’ve tried to fix my fantasy lineup when I’m at work and I can’t because I’m in the Giants’ facility?” Leonard joked.
That’s apparently not the case in Detroit, as at least two of the players suspended were hit for betting on non-NFL games while in a team facility, and with four players – including their 2022 first-round pick Jameson Williams – and several staffers hit in this sting, there has to be a serious look at the culture and what the staff has going on in that building.
“This would go for whoever the head coach was: the word culture gets thrown out a lot, and with Dan Campbell, not only did the team start to look more promising last year, but the culture he created is given a lot of credit for what they have going as compared to the previous regime,” Leonard. “Now, I think he’s under the microscope; these are all grown men who made their decisions, but how do you not only handle this and make sure this never happens again, but also make sure something else in your building isn’t a free-for-all? One player is concerning, four is a trend, so I look at Dan Campbell as ultimate responsible for how they react to this.”
Brian Mitchell doesn’t blame Campbell because he can only do so much to check in on players, and sports betting is so prevalent and so easy to access – even if it would be silly for players to put in their own info.
JP, however, wanted to clarify that based on NFL rules, players can bet on college football but can’t do it from inside the facility, which is apparently what Williams did, but Shaka Toney and two others had bet on NFL games, which is why they got the indefinite suspensions.
“Yes, and these guys have been told many times – and most athletes know inherently – that you can’t bet on your own sport,” Leonard said.
“BMitch, I agree with you that Dan Campbell isn’t at fault that a grown man left the building and did it, but it’s on him to get a handle on what happened and lock it down. When a coach is so warm towards players it’s almost viewed as friendship as much as boss-employee, but sometimes when it’s too loose, things happen.”
Leonard also weighed in on the NFL Draft being the deadline for an Aaron Rodgers deal to the Jets, what the Commanders may do at 16, and more, so take a listen above!
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