NFL Players Association is a great ally for Tyreek Hill
By Matt Conner
Tyreek Hill will meet with NFL officials today in Kansas City, but the presence of the players association should be a major help.
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill is scheduled to meet with NFL officials in K.C. on Wednesday. It’s the first official move on the part of the league to investigate Hill after waiting on local authorities to conclude their own investigations into alleged charges of child abuse and child neglect in the home of Hill and his wife Crystal Espinal concerning their three-year-old son.
The entire offseason has been an up and down affair for Hill. When word leaked that charges could be filed on Hill and Espinal after his son had broken his arm, it brought up comparisons to his previous arrest back in college for domestic violence (against Espinal). Questions about the child’s safety (rightfully) arose and the Department for Children and Families got involved to remove the child from the home.
With authorities concluding there are no criminal charges to be filed in the matter, the NFL is finally moving on. A suspension could still be coming for Hill, and it could even be a lengthy one, since the league is known to do whatever it will without worrying about consistency or standards. It’s possible the NFL could try to make a mockery of Hill’s scenario here given the fact the news upstaged the opening of the NFL Draft. With the NFL, it’s just impossible to tell.
League analysts have guessed that Hill will be suspended but that’s likely to run on the shorter side than anything else. There is damning evidence against Hill with a threatening voice recording against Espinal, but clearly that was not enough for the police.
The ace in Hill’s hand is the presence of the NFL Player’s Association in all of this. If Hill is ready and willing to appeal any decision handed down by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, he’s likely going to be successful in having it reduced by at least some amount. If Hill can create context for what happened and an excuse why Espinal might be out to manipulate things, the NFLPA has a good chance to push back any final punishment.
What this means is that the presence of the player’s union will give Hill a solid chance to fight back. If the evidence is questionable or if it feels like the NFL is veering off course in making an example of Hill, he can easily ask for the suspension to be cut in half or waived altogether. That’s an important note (and ally to have) in a case that’s confusing for all parties involved.