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Dissecting a decade's worth of Roger Goodell NFL suspensions
Roger Goodell is coming up on his 10-year anniversary as NFL commissioner. USA TODAY Sports

Dissecting a decade's worth of Roger Goodell NFL suspensions

September mark the 10-year anniversary of Roger Goodell taking over as commissioner of the National Football League. His tenure has certainly had its ups and downs, but what he's most famous — if not infamous — for is his cause of cleaning up the NFL on and off the field and, ultimately, "protecting the shield." That's meant high-profile suspensions, and lots of them.

As the sheriff of the league, Goodell has been largely criticized for how he has handled this power, a power that was given to him partly by the NFLPA, as well as the process behind his disciplinary policy.  What at one point was applauded as a much needed kick in the backside to players who continued to be in the news for the wrong reasons turned into controversy and a seemingly make-it-up-as-you-go punishment system.

Let's look back at some of Goodell's most memorable suspensions in his first 10 years as NFL commissioner.

ADAM 'PACMAN' JONES

Jones was suspended for the entire 2007 season after an altercation at a strip club that involved assaulting a stripper, threatening a security guard's life and a shooting that left one man paralyzed. The incident involved Jones trying to retrieve money from a stripper after making it rain and ended with an alleged member of Jones' crew coming back and firing shots into the club, hitting one man and paralyzing him.

This was Goodell's first big decision when it came to player conduct, and smacking Jones with a full-season suspension was a rather shocking first blow. He agreed to look at it again in a sort of parole hearing after 10 games but ultimately stuck with his decision, as Jones continued to be involved with off-field issues.

While this was the first big test of Goodell's authority, it wasn't met with too much criticism since Jones continued to be involved in drama, including assaulting his bodyguard during the 2008 season. Goodell suspended Jones for four games for that incident as well.

Looking back, could this kind of tough love actually have worked? After all, Jones was leaving destruction all around him no matter where he went. Yet, after these suspensions and signing with the Bengals in 2010, he hasn't been involved in anything like this. Sure, he's still a controversial figure, but it's mostly due to his play and occasional bad judgment on the field, not off it.

CHRIS HENRY 

During the same time that Pacman Jones was going through his issues, former West Virginia teammate Chris Henry had his own problems. From a gun charge while wearing his own Bengals jersey to having underage girls over to a hotel to drink, being pulled over and possessing marijuana, and drunk driving, Henry had his plate full of transgressions. Goodell suspended Henry for two games in 2006 and the first eight games of the 2007 season over his litany of issues.

The following offseason, Henry assaulted a man with a beer bottle, and the Bengals immediately released him. Cincinnati did bring Henry back during the preseason due to injuries, though the wideout had to serve a four-game suspension to begin that campaign. Like Jones, Henry was a repeat offender and poster boy for why Goodell needed this conduct policy.

Sadly, Henry died in a freak accident in 2009.

SPYGATE

This has continued to be one of the cases that Goodell conspiracy theorists point to as evidence of his lack of integrity. To be brief, the Jets called out the Patriots for taping their defensive signals, and the league investigated and found the accusations to be true. The NFL fined Bill Belichick $500,000 and fined the Patriots, but the real kicker is he took their 2008 first-round draft pick away from them.

But it didn't end there. There were rumors of other tapes and a systematic culture of taping opponents, including a Rams walk-through prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. While other tapes were brought to the attention of Goodell and the NFL, no further punishments were given, and the league said there was no tape of the Rams. Goodell then destroyed all the tapes.

Destroying the tapes has been an ugly mark for Goodell. Why destroy evidence like this? That's what Senator Arlen Specter was asking when he nearly put the NFL's antitrust status before Congress in order to get answers for why the tapes were destroyed and why punishments were light. Specter, among others, was hinting at a cover-up of just how widespread Spygate really was.

It has been nearly a decade later, and there are a lot of people who assume Goodell went light on the Patriots, saying that destroying the tapes was a way to kill the severity of how big it was. Goodell and Patriots owner Robert Kraft were close friends, and many feel the commish was a bit too hasty to get his first major scandal over with as quickly as possible. Still, this seems to have ramifications even to this day.

TANK JOHNSON

In December 2006, Johnson's house was raided by the Lake County police department, where six firearms were found — a violation of his probation from an earlier incident. The Bears won the NFC Championship, and Johnson had to get the court's permission to travel to Miami to play in the Super Bowl.  The request was granted, but it really hurt in the court of public opinion.

Goodell eventually suspended Johnson for the first eight games of the 2007 season. Before that season even started, Johnson was stopped for speeding and being under the influence, though his blood alcohol level turned out to be under the legal limit. The Bears released Tank a few days later. Again, Goodell taking a hard stance on guys running afoul of the law was met very well with fans.

MICHAEL VICK

You know all about the dog-fighting scandal. Not only was it illegal, but it was disgusting, horrid and gruesome. Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely for his role in the dog-fighting ring and his involvement in the gambling around it. The suspension was a rather cosmetic one since Vick would be serving a 23-month prison sentence. Still, the suspension was indefinite, and there was no guarantee Vick would even play in the NFL again.

After serving his time and leaving prison, Vick signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2009, though he was suspended for the first two weeks of the season. While Vick's life was essentially destroyed at the time and he served his sentence, there was some criticism about how quickly Vick was able to land a job and start playing again. Yes, Vick was suspended for over two seasons, but it didn't take long for him to get playing again once he got out.

DONTE STALLWORTH

Stallworth had the most serious off-field issue when he struck and killed a pedestrian with his vehicle while he was legally drunk and had marijuana in his system. Stallworth hit the man as he ran out into the street to catch a bus early in the morning. He was speeding, and his blood alcohol level was still high after a night of drinking.

There were a lot of fingers pointing after this tragedy. For one, Stallworth only received a 30-day jail sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter (he only had to serve 24 days) along with probation and community service. The NFL suspended Stallworth for the entire 2009 season. Seemingly, it was how Stallworth accepted responsibility for his actions that got him the lighter-than-expected sentences, both form the courts and the NFL.

Instead of fighting the charges, Stallworth accepted his guilt in court and quickly made financial amends with the victim's family. Also, he was extremely contrite with Goodell and the NFL that his ban was lifted after just the one season.

On the surface, it was very confusing. A man lost his life due to a player's carelessness and not only did he receive just the one-year ban, but Goodell went to bat for him with the league. When reinstated, Goodell let owners know that Stallworth was well worth a second chance. The fact that Stallworth was willing to take his punishments is a key point in Goodell's view of handing down his punishments. This would be a key point for Goodell down the road.

BEN ROETHLISBERGER

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was suspended for the first six games of the 2010 NFL season after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her at a Georgia club.  While no charges were brought on Big Ben, it was a messy situation that looked bad for the NFL, and he was given that six-game suspension and had to go under "personal behavior evaluation."

Big Ben's suspension was then reduced to four games after showing Goodell and the NFL that he was doing the right things. Various groups slammed both the investigation and the NFL for failing to impose stricter punishments on him, and there is a public perception that Roethlisberger got away with something despite no charges or arrests.

BOUNTYGATE

Not to get too much into what happened, but in 2012, the New Orleans Saints were found to have a program in place to financially reward players for injuring opponents. The NFL found out and dropped the hammer on New Orleans, suspending former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely, head coach Sean Payton for the entire 2012 season, general manager Mickey Loomis the first eight games of that season, assistant coach Joe Vitt for six games as well as fines and forfeiture of draft picks for the organization.

Goodell then suspended players Jonathan Vilma for the entire 2012 season, Anthony Hargrove eight games, Will Smith four games and Scott Fujita three games for their roles in the bounty scheme. The players appealed, with Vilma filing a defamation lawsuit against Goodell (it was later dismissed). Vilma, along with seven witnesses from the Saints, went in front of a New Orleans judge to state their case. The judge felt that Goodell overreached with the player suspensions and that facts were misrepresented. The players' suspensions were overturned prior to the start of the season.

Goodell, who looked bad with this verdict, re-suspended the players in October. Those suspensions were reviewed by prior commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who also ruled for the players, saying that the blame lay at the feet of the coaching staff and not the players.

While this was a significant message to teams and coaches of their conduct, this was a blow to his image to the players.

RAY RICE

This may be the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. Rice and his fiancee were arrested and charged after a physical altercation at a casino in Atlantic City, N.J. TMZ posted a video of Rice pulling his then-fiancee Janay Palmer's body out of an elevator. After interviewing Rice and Palmer (who had since married), Goodell felt that both were honest in their answers and that it wasn't as big a matter as it was speculated to be. He suspended Rice for the first two games of the 2014 season.

Later that summer, a video surfaced from inside the elevator that night showing Rice actually punching Palmer, knocking her out. The shocking video horrified everyone, as it was clear evidence of what actually happened prior to him pulling her body off the elevator. Goodell reacted swiftly by tacking on 10 games to Rice's suspension while the Ravens cut the running back. Goodell also announced that he didn't "get it right" with Rice's initial suspension and further domestic violence issues would be met with harsher penalties.

Rice went after the NFL, saying that he was suspended twice for the same offense, which is in violation of NFL rules. Goodell felt that Rice and Palmer misrepresented the incident in his meetings with them and said the league had no knowledge that this video existed. Critics wondered what Goodell and the league thought happened on the elevator that led to Palmer being knocked out and dragged into a hallway — that it shouldn't take a video to understand the seriousness of the altercation.

Rice's two-game suspension was upheld, and a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Ravens was settled. Players chastised Goodell and the league for not only the handling of this matter and the extra suspension, but basically saying that he was making up punishments as he went along. The public slammed Goodell for the initial two-game suspension, saying it was way too lenient for a man assaulting a woman in that manner, which most likely led to Goodell's overreaction when the tape from inside the elevator surfaced.

Rice hasn't played in an NFL game since the incident, and Goodell's reputation has never recovered.

ADRIAN PETERSON

As the Rice incident was garnering the bulk of the headlines, Peterson was charged with reckless injury to a child after he disciplined his son with a switch that left gash marks on his legs. Peterson pleaded no contest and avoided any jail time.

The NFL, smack dab in the middle of the Ray Rice issue, placed A.P. on the commissioner's exempt list, effectively suspending the player without pay. His suspension was upheld due to Peterson's plea deal and the NFL's new policy against domestic violence, enacted after the Rice incident.

Of course, the severity of the punishment was called into question again. How does Ray Rice get an initial two-game suspension for knocking out his wife while Peterson essentially gets a season-long ban for spanking his son with a switch (some still feel that this is an acceptable way to discipline a child). This fed into the thinking that Goodell, as the judge, jury and executioner, had too much power and lacked any real oversight.

DEFLATEGATE

Sadly, this is the most recent and seemingly exaggerated scandal in the Goodell era. It all stems from the Indianapolis Colts calling out that the Patriots were letting air out of their balls prior to their matchup in the AFC Championship game in January 2015. Less inflated balls are easier to catch, especially in a cold atmosphere like Foxborough.

So the investigation began where we had attendants going into bathrooms with footballs, air pressure analysts, broken cell phones and, ultimately, two buddies who now have hard feelings. Nearly everything listed above factored into this case.

The Patriots' previous punishment of Spygate was deemed too light, and apparently other owners wanted the franchise to be smacked down for perceived notions of continuous cheating. There was Tom Brady, defiant against the NFL with his destruction of his cell phone. There was Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots, now sour toward his commish buddy Goodell. There were the appeals and appeal of the appeals as, we are a year and half removed from the incident.

All this over some deflated balls. While cheating, it is up there with stickum on gloves, linemen spraying Pam on their jerseys or defensive lineman standing at the line of scrimmage trying to listen to the huddle.

In the end, Brady was suspended for four games, a suspension he'll serve to start this season. Despite a won appeal that allowed him to play the 2015 season, Brady will honor the suspension next month after the overturning of the suspension was overturned. Again, pointing to Goodell's past, that is longer than Rice initially got for knocking out his fiancee with a punch, longer than Vontaze Burfict got for repeated illegal hits on players, the same length as a second-time substance abuse offender could get, Roethlisberger got for his night in that Georgia bathroom and Greg Hardy got for pummeling his girlfriend. All because it was "more probable than not" that Brady knew that the equipment managers were deflating footballs.

There have been many other suspensions during Goodell's reign for a variety of issues: substance abuse, illegal hits, on- and off-field issues, shooting your own leg in a night club, etc. Some have been policy-driven while others were team suspensions under conduct policies. Still, Goodell's self-perceived role as the sheriff on the league has had a major impact on how the league operates and is the way many in the public view his time as commissioner of the NFL: a renegade sheriff with no oversight, singlehandedly trying to rule with an iron fist.

Fair or not, a decade in, Roger Goodell, the once-heralded disciplinarian, is the most poked and prodded commissioner in sports, and that doesn't look to change anytime soon.

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