Ray Rice has been on the NFL’s untouchable list since a video surface of him punching his fiancée Janay Palmer in the face and knocking her out. It was a very graphic video, but since then the two have reconciled and she has begged the league to give Rice another chance. Despite Palmer’s plea for a second chance, teams have stayed away from Rice and haven’t even considered giving him a contract.
That being said, Rice is now making a full push to get back into the NFL. According to a report from ESPN’s Ed Werder, Rice and his supporters including Greg Schiano are making calls to their contacts in an attempt to get Rice a chance to prove himself to the rest of the league.
Seeking the same chance provided Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy, Ray Rice and supporters including Greg Schiano have been calling #NFL teams
— Ed Werder (@Edwerderespn) July 24, 2015
Simply looking at the two names mentioned above in Werder’s tweet bring up a very good point. Why should Peterson and Hardy be given second chances when the things that they did were just as bad as Rice? Is it a double standard due to the fact that Rice’s issue was caught on camera?
Once again, the NFL has proven that they are full of hypocrites. Rice being caught on tape made the NFL want to discipline him more, simply because people could see the brutality that he had shown. Hardy, on the other hand, beat his girlfriend and threw her on a bed full of firearms but wasn’t caught on camera.
Needless to say, Rice is very deserving of a second chance if the NFL has given all of the other players a second chance as well. Not only has the league given Hardy and Peterson a second chance, they have actually lessened their punishment, which makes Rice the most punished player for off-the-field issues in the league right now. That isn’t fair, and it is unreasonable for teams to not consider giving Rice another chance.
Is this article trying to defend what Rice did to his girlfriend? Absolutely not. Even though it may seem that way, the fact of the matter is that Rice has shown much more maturity since then and has sat out just as much time as any other player that has done a similar thing and actually more than most.
Rice can still make an impact on the field if a team gives him another chance. At just 28 years old, he still has a few good years of football left in his body after some time off.
It will be very interesting to see whether or not this push by Rice and his supporters can actually get him a second chance. Whether a team simply brings him in for a workout or whatever else happens, he deserves to get a chance to prove himself. Rice has been waiting very patiently and has learned a lot off-the-field since the situation happened, and hopefully a team will give him the chance that he is searching to receive.
