Jun. 12—PHILADELPHIA — Among the core principles held dear by Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is accountability.
And not just when his players are together on the field.
With five NFL veterans suspended in April for gambling on NFL games during the 2022 season, Sirianni had a heart-to-heart with his guys to remind them such behavior wasn’t just a mistake that will hit them in the pocketbook, but one that will hurt their team.
“It’s just their accountability piece,” Sirianni said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t go through some of these issues or anything like that, but you go over it, and you talk about what’s happened and how we can avoid that and the resources that we have to avoid that. That’s if somebody gets in trouble or whatever throughout the year. You do the same thing with a situation like this because it’s real, and you just try to educate. You try to tell them what the rules are. You try to tell them the resources we have. There are just so many things available to us.”
In some form, sports betting seems to be everywhere in professional sports. From signage to advertising, it’s all over the NFL. There are sportsbooks in the stadiums of the Washington Nationals, Washington Capitals and Phoenix Suns, per reports, plus one on the grounds of the Arizona Cardinals’ home.
It’s highly unlikely the NFL’s recent discipline will be its last with respect to gambling.
Four of the suspended NFL players played for the Detroit Lions last year in wide receiver Quintez Cephus, safety C.J. Moore and wide receivers Stanley Berryhill and Jameson Williams. The other was Washington Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney.
Cephus, Moore and Toney are suspended at least for the 2023 season. They must petition for reinstatement. Cephus and Moore were cut.
Berryhill and Williams, the latter the 12th overall pick in the 2022 draft, received six-game suspensions. They can practice with the Lions in training camp and play in preseason games.
The NFL provided limited details of what the players actually did, but according to reports Williams and Berryhill received lesser suspensions because they put wagers on non-NFL games while inside an NFL facility. The others bet on league games, per reports.
You’ll have to take the NFL at its word when it said its investigation, “uncovered no evidence indicating any inside information was used or that any game was compromised in any way.”
Until this spring the last NFL player to be suspended for gambling on league games was wide receiver Calvin Ridley, then with the Arizona Cardinals. Now a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Ridley sat out the entire 2022 season.
Eagles running back Kenneth Gainwell said some interesting things about the talks he and his teammates received. If nothing else, the league’s efforts to clarify rules about betting got the attention of players.
“Just make sure we’re being smart on sports betting,” is the way Gainwell put it. “Make sure you don’t do sports betting at all. If you do it, don’t do it here at the facility. Don’t bet on any NFL games. Just know that that is the rule. We’re just enforcing that rule very strongly.”
Eagles veteran offensive tackle Lane Johnson echoed the sentiment.
“I try to stay off it,” Johnson said. “I never had any gambling on my phone. I’ve been to the casino once or twice. I just think being away from that stuff in general is a good idea. I think the league made it clear now kind of what the rules are with all the recent suspensions.
“I think players kind of know now it’s a no-fly zone.”
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