The hammer of the NFL is about to come down hard on players who allegedly participated in sports betting.
Players like Indianapolis Colts’ cornerback and return specialist Isaiah Rodgers are expected to be suspended for the entire 2023 season, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Wednesday. Although Rodgers is the only named player, Schefter’s reporting indicated “a handful” of players would be suspended in the league’s most recent probe.
Rodgers first popped up on the NFL’s radar earlier this month when reports surfaced he was under investigation for “pervasive” betting activities, including bets on Colts games. Earlier this year, the league suspended five other players for violating the NFL’s anti-gambling policy, including Detroit Lions’ 2022 first-round pick Jameson Williams. Three of the five were suspended indefinitely, while Williams and another — who allegedly bet on non-NFL games at a team facility — were only suspended for six games.
A year ago, the idea of player suspensions for gambling seemed few and far between. The only players prior to this offseason who were suspended for an entire season for sports betting were Arizona Cardinals defensive back Josh Shaw in 2019 and then-Atlanta Falcons wideout Calvin Ridley in 2021 (but has since been reinstated).
But now it appears the floodgates have opened. And now the question remains for the league: Are suspensions levied to uphold the integrity of the game or the perception of the integrity of the game? That question remains up for debate, but NFL vice president and chief compliance officer Sabrina Perel told Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein on a league conference call that perception does matter a lot.
“We’re mindful of just gambling in general and the perception,” Perel said. “Are we doing everything to make sure that there’s no negative association with those individuals both on the actual betting and the potential for the use of inside information?”
Another way to look at this news, though, is how players keep getting caught now more than ever. That part is more simple: Technology and access have made sports betting incredibly easy. But with that comes the consequence of the league’s ability to easily track down perpetrators. Matt Holt, the founder and CEO of U.S. Integrity, which works with major sports leagues and sportsbooks to monitor issues, told Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel that the location of a bettor can be tracked within a 3-foot radius. And since NFL players and staffers aren’t allowed to place bets in team facilities, it isn’t hard to the league to know if a bet was placed in the parking lot or a mile away.
We don’t know yet the extent of the NFL’s most recent betting suspensions, but it sounds as though it’s going to be a lot more than a trickle of players who violated the anti-gambling policy.