As the NFL continues to exercise its prerogative to not make a decision regarding the potential reinstatement of Raiders linebacker Aldon Smith, Smith is getting upset.
Via Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle, Smith’s personal trainer said Smith is “mad and frustrated” that the NFL still hasn’t acted on his petition for reinstatement, which was filed 74 days ago.
“He is losing hope,” Steve Fotion told Tafur. “They are jerking him around, telling him they’ll have an answer for him on Monday. And then nothing. It seems unprofessional.”
Fotion spoke on Smith’s behalf because, as Fotion explained it, Smith is “too angry to talk and was afraid he would start yelling.”
Smith met with Commissioner Roger Goodell a week ago; through Fotion, Smith said the meeting went well.
“They poked the bear, they poked the bear . . . but they didn’t rattle me,” Smith told Fotion, who told Tafur.
On Wednesday, Goodell told reporters nothing of substance about Smith’s status.
“I’m not going to speculate on where we are and where it’s going to go,” Goodell said, via a transcript provided by the league. “I will tell you that I think it was good for us to be able to meet with Aldon, to hear from him directly and to hear from his representative. The union was also represented there. We were going through all of the information to make sure we have it all absolutely accurate and that we all understand exactly where he is in the process of trying to get himself in a position where he’s got his life in order enough to resume an NFL career. It was good for me to hear from him personally. But when we get to that decision, we’ll certainly announce it.”
On one hand, the NFL apparently is respecting the confidentiality provision of the substance-abuse policy. On the other hand, the NFL arguably is taking full advantage of its collectively-bargained right to take as long as it wants, delaying the decision because it can.
The substance-abuse policy seems at first glance to require a decision within 60 days after application for reinstatement is made. But the deftly-crafted language at no point requires a decision within 60 days; it merely requires that all parties take every effort to allow the Commissioner to make a decision within 60 days. The league interprets the policy as applying no deadline at all.
And so the NFL can issue a ruling whenever it wants, keeping Smith waiting because the NFL can -- and keeping everyone in the dark about his status because, given the confidentiality provision of the policy, the league believes it should.
“If they’re trying to break him, they’re not going to break him,” Fotion said of Smith.
Regardless of whether they’re trying to break him, with each passing day Smith moves closer to the breaking point.