What started as a two week suspension has since turned indefinite. The Baltimore Ravens terminated Ray Rice's contract Monday after a video surfaced of Rice assaulting his fiancé. Shortly after the Ravens released Rice, the NFL suspended the running back indefinitely. This means we will not see Ray Rice take the field any time soon. Ray Rice has forever tagged himself a "woman beater". So what's next? Is there still a future for Ray Rice in the NFL? In the event he is not given a lifetime ban, there still needs to be a franchise willing to sign him. General managers and coaches do not want the kind of negative attention that goes along with something of this magnitude. What a player does off the field can impact what's done both on the field, and within the organization. How many rushing yards will it take for fans to forget about this? There's no doubt Rice is a talented football player but is he worth signing? A Ray Rice contract is likely to include angry fans, bad reputations, and being under a gigantic media microscope. That is a lot of baggage for a player that showed significant decline in 2013 and won't be any younger by the time he's allowed back. There may not be a lifetime ban, but it is possible Ray Rice has played his last snap in the NFL. If so there's always boxing. I'm sure a lot of people would pay money to see Manny Pacquiao show Ray what it's like to get knocked out cold.
No comments:
Post a Comment