The NFL appears to have quietly made a pretty shady change to its Personal Conduct Policy at the detriment of the players, and people are not exactly happy about it.
As reported by league insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on Thursday morning, the NFL quietly changed its Personal Conduct Policy to remove a phrase that held team owners to a higher standard than players in an apparent attempt to remove a defense for players facing Personal Conduct Policy violations.
“A side-by-side comparison of the latest version of the policy (dated 2021) and the 2023 version, a copy of which PFT has obtained, reveals that one very important sentence has been removed: ‘Ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline when violations of the Personal Conduct Policy occur.’
It’s gone. It has vanished. Deleted. Finito,” Florio wrote for Pro Football Talk.
Florio clarified later that this was only true for the policy given to the players, not the policy given to other league employees. And he has a theory about why that might be the case.
“The statement in question, while removed from the policy applicable to players, appears in the separate policy applicable to league and non-player employees. It’s unclear why the sentence was removed from the policy that applies to players, other than to remove a defense for players based on the notion that owners and other non-players are held to a higher standard,” Florio wrote.
It’s certainly a shady move from the league, and the NFL world had plenty to say about it on social media.
"Do as I say, not as I do" ?
I wonder how Jeffrey Kessler feels about this. Matter of fact, I don't have ask. https://t.co/D5sg0ICr5k
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) August 3, 2023
So instead of enforcing they're basically conceding that in the future (and obviously the past) Owners won't be held to a higher standard. https://t.co/hEseb16TCS
— Adam (@Brownsobsession) August 3, 2023
I mean Robert Kraft is the perfect example, as well as the dolphins owner https://t.co/0l9UjsdQ1r
— Mc gusto (@Mrupandgo_) August 3, 2023
the media and fans don't care about the owners indiscretions…sadly https://t.co/rTGBlfuMwU
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) August 3, 2023
— TheKardiacKid (@TheKardiac_Kid) August 3, 2023
Highly doubt this becomes any kind of a story https://t.co/f4xH5RqY5b
— Mike McCartney (@MikeMcCartney7) August 3, 2023
