APThe list of NFL players arrested for drunk driving over the past few months includes Giants offensive lineman David Diehl. And while it’s unknown whether others have had a sit-down with Commissioner Roger Goodell in the wake of their incidents, Diehl has.
According to the Associated Press, Diehl said the incident won’t result in him missing games.
He’s most likely right. For a first offense, DUIs ordinarily result in a two-game fine, absent “aggravating circumstances.” That said, the fact that Diehl drove into a pair of parked cars could be regarded as “aggravating circumstances.”
Even then, there will be no discipline of any kind until the case is resolved in court.
So why meet with Diehl now? It could be (and the use of “could” means we’re just shooting spitballs in the general direction of the broad side of a barn) that Goodell hopes to recruit Diehl to assist with efforts to apply peer pressure as a strategy for reducing misbehavior. Recently, players have begun to speak out about the NFL’s never ending crime spree. But players who have recently been on the wrong side of the steel bars could be in the best position to influence others.
It’s one thing to be preached at by your parents. It’s quite another to be slammed against the wall by a sibling. Thus, the NFL could be realizing that the best way to get through to players is to use other players.
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If the NFL really wants to crack down on drunk driving(they should) then why do they give them one get out of jail free card. I would much rather see Diehl, who decided to drive at more than double the legal limit, suspended then some of these unproven bounty penalties.
LT used to drive stoned 24/7 in NY, so this isn’t new ground there.
So is that a picture of him drinking on the practice field then?
Why is it that we always send the guilty out to preach? If you want to use the guilty as an example shouldn’t you just punish them? Their words will only ring hollow until they’ve put in a significant stretch of improved behavior…
If it helps getting intoxicated players off the road GREAT. If it helps getting intoxicated fans off the road even GREATER.
LT is also the greatest defensive player that ever lived, Diehl is a clown at best
Any arrest should result in the league minimum for the remainder of the year, regardless of who and why. This would be in the first line of every nfl contract…. If the NFL actually cared anyway.
No player or union official should have an issue with this since there is no excuse for this BS.
Screwdrivers at practice! Not that there’s wrong with that.