hawker84
Well-known member
SEATTLE PENALTIES COMING? Peter, when is the league going to do something with regard to the repeated four-game suspensions for the Seahawks? Walter Thurmond just got it. Last year it was Brandon Browner and Richard Sherman. Bruce Irvin, Allen Barbre, Winston Guy and John Moffitt have all been hit with substance-abuse-related issues since 2011. When does this become a repeat offender type of thing in the league’s eyes?
(Editor’s note: After this e-mail arrived, Browner reportedly got busted again and is facing a one-year suspension.)
—Michael Alexander
It’s a valid question. There is a formula that calls for teams to be disciplined in the form of a fine when more than one player on the team in a year is suspended for violating league policy. Irvin, Thurmond and Browner would be three in one year. The NFL is on record as saying that it will consider docking a franchise draft choices if the poor behavior persists, and so that’s certainly going to be a question for the Seahawks going forward.
Seattle likely will be fined more than $200,000 under the league’s disciplinary formula for teams, given that, according to Pro Football Talk, the fines kick in at one-fourth of the second suspended players’ fine, and rise to one-third of the third player’s fine. If Browner is gone for a year, that’s a healthy fine; he makes $773,000 in base salary.
The solution, obviously, is for players to stop messing up. But for now, owner Paul Allen is going to have to write some checks. And if the league is serious about stopping this behavior or at least trying to, there will be more discussion by the 32 owners about docking draft draft choices for a team with so many violators.
Got this off another board. Besides fines, could we possibly face more diciplinary action from the league if this continues? Perhaps losing Pete for a season like NO lost their coach. Anybody have knowledge of this stuff?