Even before Denver Broncos defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike was suspended indefinitely for breaking the NFL’s gambling policy, coach Sean Payton had criticized the league’s handling of gambling months earlier.

“[T]hat eight-page handout we received [from the NFL] was more confusing after I read it than it was before I looked at it,” Payton said on June 8.

Now, following Uwazurike’s suspension, Payton has more beef with the NFL, specifically about how players can have no communication with the team during his suspension.

“And we’re going to send them home for a year, where they can’t be around,” Payton said in an interview with USA TODAY‘s Jarrett Bell on Tuesday. “The idea that you just go away, shame on us.”

Payton knows what it’s like to be suspended in the NFL. He sat out the 2012 season following Bountygate.

“When they want to kill somebody…when I got suspended, it was, ‘You can’t have no contact with anybody in the NFL,’” Payton told Bell.

Uwazurike won’t be eligible to petition for reinstatement until July 24, 2024. ​​That means he will miss not only the 2023 season but also all of the team’s organized team activities and minicamp practices next spring. While he’s away, Uwazurike can’t get in touch about the playbook or receive a customized workout from the team’s weight training staff.

Uwazurike will be way behind his teammates when he returns in 2024 (assuming he will be reinstated next summer). Gambling on NFL games obviously deserves a serious punishment, but Payton seems to believe the no-contact policy is too harsh.

“The question is, ‘What’s the intent of the punishment?’ I know what Roger’s intent was (for me). Do we want these young men to still have a chance to learn from their mistakes?”

Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner was asked about Payton’s comments during a pre-camp press conference on Wednesday. Penner gave a diplomatic response.

“I think Sean wanted to show support for a young player who’s a good young man and made some mistakes,” Penner said. “… At the same time, this really gets to the integrity of the game and all of us, owners, coaches, front office, players have to do the right thing.”

Uwazurike gambled on NFL games during the 2022 season, before Payton was the team’s coach. At the time of this writing, Uwazurike has not been released, so it seems that Payton wants to give him a second chance in 2024.