After NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell tried to correct his gross mishandling of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice's case this summer, Goodell came back and doubled down. While some critics may deride the moves as reactionary and self-preserving, the changes it wrought are better late than never. Rice's original 2-Game suspension has been expanded; he is now indefinitely suspended by the league. The Ravens have also released him from his contract after conclusive evidence that he beat his now-wife Janay in a hotel casino arose. Given his current status and advancing age, is Rice effectively being retired by the NFL?
The NFL has been seemingly two steps behind public opinion since this whole situation unraveled. They finally stepped up with a bold move, though, a few weeks ago when Roger Goodell announced a strict new policy for dealing with domestic violence.
But they were still being taken to task for letting Rice off so easy- until video surfaced from inside the elevator. The shocking footage revealed that Rice repeatedly struck his fiancée Janay and knocked her out.
The league and the Ravens claimed that they hadn't had access to that footage prior to this week (via USA Today):
"We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today."
In Rice's case, the question remains whether he will ever play professional football again. The public can sometimes be forgiving, but even if that happened, Rice is also racing the clock (via Boston Globe):
"... There's another factor working against Rice - his age. At 27, Rice, who would have played his seventh NFL season this year, is fast approaching the end zone of a typical running back's career, and his performance is trending down. He was coming off his worst season since he became the Ravens starter in 2009..."
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