Ray Rice was suspended two games. The video was already out in the public and the NFL had a copy prior to suspending him those two games, but after the suspension, the media started showing the video and the NFL suddenly suspended Ray Rice indefinitely. Career over. Then they suspended Josh Brown for one game. They either had the details of his past alleged domestic violence incidents or they simply chose to move quickly to prevent it becoming a media story. Then the media got a hold of those past incidents and suddenly the NFL suspended Josh Brown indefinitely. Career over. Greg Hardy? Career over.
Don't get me wrong. All of those guys deserved to be suspended. I fully believe that NFL players who commit any violent crime like domestic violence should be suspended. That said, I believe the NFL should only do this when players are at least charged with crimes and even then, only when the evidence justifies a pre-conviction suspension, and once they suspend the player, that should be it. The player misses those games, then the player comes back. Instead, for many players, a domestic violence suspension, even if never really proven in actual court, means the end of their career unless they are a superstar and even then, there are no guarantees.
