Packers running back Josh Jacobs’ efforts to block the NFL from seeing video of the altercation that resulted in his no-contest plea to battery have worked. For now.
The NFL announced that Jacobs would be reinstated from the exempt list on Monday.
The timing is no coincidence. With the base penalty for domestic battery under the Personal Conduct Policy set at six games, the move allows the league to pre-suspend a player whose internal investigation is still ongoing. Then, if/when a suspension is imposed, he’ll get credit for the games missed while on paid leave – and he’ll lose the pay he received during the games he didn’t play.
Although technically paid time off is not discipline (although in practice it is), missed games are now part of the potential discipline. And the league’s decision to reserve the right to add additional games is directly related to the video it wants to review before closing its case.
This is a risky move for the NFL. Until he sees the video, he won’t know if it contains images that would warrant a sanction much greater than a six-game suspension. The best course of action, given Jacobs’ efforts to prevent the league from seeing the video, would be to tell him he won’t play at all until the league sees the video.
If, ultimately, the video is as shocking as the 2014 Ray Rice video, the NFL will have another PR mess on its hands. Perhaps after 12 years, the memory of the magnitude of Ray Rice’s situation has faded. Regardless, the safest approach would have been to tell Jacobs that, until the video was seen by the league, his stay on paid leave would continue.
Gn sports
