Getty Calvin Ridley #18 of the Atlanta Falcons.
Is a one-year suspension too harsh for Atlanta Falcons’ wideout Calvin Ridley, who received a worse punishment for gambling on his team than a handful of NFL players have for domestic abuse?
According to longtime sports agent, Leigh Steinberg, Ridley’s full-season suspension isn’t surprising at all and it makes sense.
During a recent interview with D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Steinberg dove into the reasoning behind Ridley’s gambling punishment.
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It’s a Ripple Effect
Steinberg cited how players betting on their own sports goes against the integrity of the game and changes fan perception––not to mention disrupts the NFL’s front office––simply put, there is a ripple effect.
“So, everything relies on the concept of an even playing field,” Steinberg said. “The supposition that both teams are trying as hard as they can, giving maximum effort. Both coaches are incentivized to win.
“And what you’re seeing is a real contest. Between two teams playing with the same rules on the same field, and it’s only athletic performances that determine the outcome. So, understand that anything involving an athlete and betting triggers a tripwire. It sends shudders through the NFL league office and individual teams.”
Before Ridley’s investigation went down, the Falcons were in serious talks with the Philadelphia Eagles about a potential blockbuster trade involving the third-year wideout. However, once the investigation was underway, Atlanta had to privately pull back and wait for a green light. Clearly, they never got the green light, thus disrupting a potential deal and ultimately hurting the franchise that lost out on future draft picks. Ridley also hurt his future potential trade value.
But even if the Falcons decided not to trade him, his absence hurts the Falcons’ full offensive potential, which we had already witnessed in 2021 when Ridley stepped away from the team in the midst of the season to take a “mental health break.”
And according to Ledbetter, the Falcons’ 2022 rookie class had to watch a video presentation on the league’s gambling rules.
Perception is Everything
But where things really get messy is how fans start to perceive the NFL.
“If fans ever started to speculate that what they were seeing in front of them was a performance shaded or tainted by someone with gambling debts, that was in serious trouble with a bookie, like Art Schlichter, then all of a sudden, instead of dominating sports … it would lose massive amounts of popularity,” Steinberg said. “The point is, that this stokes the deepest fears of the NFL, about compromised results, undermining the foundation of the game. …
“We don’t think wrestling is real. We think the NFL games are played on an even playing field. It’s not surprising that the league would move dramatically to separate a player or a franchise or an owner with suspicions that they might be gambling and then have gambling debts.
“Then need to do something to alter it or they’re betting and their performance is somehow shaded, is somehow to say nothing, you know, fumbling in a critical time, right? A quarterback throwing an interception on purpose. I mean, none of this has been part of this experience.”
During his suspension, Ridley will not receive his salary of $11.1 million in 2022 and may petition for reinstatement on or after February 15, 2023.
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