We’d say that Aldon Smith deserved the punishment he got from the NFL for misdeeds in August of 2015 … if we knew what exactly that punishment was. Now all the Raiders’ defensive end wants for Christmas is to know if he’ll be on the field in time for the playoffs.
But the Grinches down at the NFL office aren’t saying, keeping Smith in that most frustrating of limbos. In fact, Smith is so angry over his uncertain status that he sent his trainer, Steven Fotion, to an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle’s Vic Tafur.
He is losing hope,” Fotion said. “They are jerking him around, telling him they’ll have an answer for him on Monday. And then nothing. It seems unprofessional.”
Smith met with the NFL on Monday, but came away from the meeting with no answers. His Stage Three suspension for violating league substance abuse rules was for one year, and ended Nov. 17. He applied for reinstatement Oct. 3.
Goodell said at the NFL owners’ meetings in Irving, Texas, that he didn’t have a timetable for announcing a decision on Smith’s reinstatement.
“We’re going through all of the information to make sure we have it all absolutely accurate,” Goodell told reporters, “that we all understand exactly where he is in the process of trying to get himself in a position where he’s got his life in order enough to resume an NFL career.
B.S. Goodell shouldn’t be in the business of treating players like children. His powers extend to enforcing the rules, and that’s it: a one-year suspension is just that, and it should be clear-cut.
Mr. Goodell,
Please reinstate Aldon Smith… pic.twitter.com/akP0R9RhWn— Spooky (@SpookyRaider) December 12, 2016
Of course Smith made it more difficult on himself with other issues, such as his 12-day jail sentence for gun and DUI charges in 2014. But once again Goodell is playing king in a land that never knew they had one.
This is a farce, and Goodell is acting like a clueless stepfather once again.