The Browns’ Myles Garrett was reinstated into the NFL on Wednesday, after missing six games during an “indefinite suspension” for hitting Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph in the head with a helmet during a game last season.
Garrett met with Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday, two days before his reinstatement, per ESPN.
The six games that Garrett served is probably fair based on other punishments doled out by the NFL, but it is interesting to look back and note that the NFL didn’t call it a six-game suspension, or a suspension for the rest of the season, including playoffs — which is what it likely would have been, had the Browns made the playoffs. (By Goodell scheduling their meeting after the Super Bowl, it seems fair to guess that was where we were headed.)
If that was the case … why not just say that? Why did the NFL insist that the suspension was “indefinite?”
The reason, I pretty strongly suspect, is that it allows the NFL to have its cake and eat it too. If the league declares a specific number of games as his suspension, pundits and fans can get furious, declaring it too high or too low. When you come up with a specific suspension, the NFL basically has to guess at what’s appropriate and what will draw the least amount of ire from fans, owners, coaches, players, etc.
But with an indefinite suspension, there’s none of it. How can you get mad about an indefinite suspension, however? You can’t. You have no idea what it means. It is by definition … indefinite. Right there in the name.
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For people who wanted Garrett thrown out of the league or, like, put in jail or whatever, an “indefinite” suspension sounds appropriately severe. An indefinite suspension could go on forever, technically! For fans who thought the whole thing was overblown, there is no huge number that they can get mad at, or compare the suspension to suspensions for other infractions, and point out how unfair and hypocritical it all is.
It’s just a blob, a meaningless amount of suspension, that no one can fixate any feelings on, which is exactly what the NFL wants.
The biggest thing an “indefinite suspension” buys the NFL is time. By making an amorphous suspension that could be anything, the league gets to wait until things settle down, people have moved on, then reinstate the player say, on a random Wednesday in the offseason.
That’s what happened here. It worked exactly how the NFL wanted it to work.
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