The failure by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his subordinates to discipline Kansas City Chiefs Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill is probably best described as a slap in the face heard round the world, or at least in the league. This is a situation that should absolutely infuriate Ezekiel Elliott after everything he was put through, and the Dallas Cowboys as well. But, this also could end up having a positive ripple effect.
I think we can all agree Roger Goodell is an absolute clown, at least as far as his decision-making has become in disciplining players who have broken league rules. His inconsistency is ridiculous, leaving him with absolutely no credibility whatsoever. It’s that inconsistency though that could shake up things for the Dallas Cowboys, and more importantly for the NFL.
I may be wrong, but it looks to me as if Roger Goodell could be loosing the reins a bit on being the judge, jury, and executioner as far as suspensions are concerned. His credibility took a huge hit back in 2017 with the way the league handled Zeke’s case and has gotten even worse with the recent news Tyreek Hill will go undisciplined.
Goodell’s current lax approach towards disciplining players could open the door for a slight change in the substance abuse policy, as least as it pertains to the use of marijuana. For years now there has been an outcry from past and current players to allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. This could be huge news for players like Randy Gregory and Josh Gordon.
Both Gordon and Gregory have had multiple suspensions handed down from the NFL due to their use of marijuana. Surprisingly though, that’s really the only red flags in their past. It really seems like a minimal offense compared to what Tyreek Hill is accused of doing. After all, there’s at least proven benefits from smoking marijuana medicinally.
I’m not going to go into all of the medical jargon of how marijuana can help NFL players. That’s a discussion for another time. It is however said to help with pain relief and to treat anxiety, the latter of which is why Randy Gregory and Josh Gordon are said to use the drug. It does make sense to use a natural remedy instead of manufactured opioids to treat these kind of symptoms. But, making sense is not one of Goodell’s strong suits right now.
This is all a longshot, but it’s going to be really interesting to see if Randy Gregory’s reinstatement helps change the league’s current stance on marijuana use. It could cause some huge ripple effects throughout the league and the Dallas Cowboys would be one of the direct beneficiaries if that is indeed the case.
I guess we will just have to wait and see how this all turns out though. It would be a little fitting if it ended up being a Cowboys players reinstatement into the league who ends up changing the substance abuse policy after everything that took place with Ezekiel Elliott. They’ll never get those six games back from 2017, but this could be a good consolation prize.
