America is supposed to be the land of second chances, right? If asked, former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice may disagree with this claim. Rice appears to have done everything right after making the terrible mistake several years ago, yet it appears that no team wants to give him a second chance.
Back in 2014, a video was released showing Rice hitting his then-fiancé Janay Palmer and knocking her unconscious in an elevator. He then was shown dragging her out of the elevator onto the floor. Before this video was released to the public, it was just said that Rice simply hit his then-fiancé and he was only suspended for two games by Commissioner Roger Goodell. It is widely believed that the NFL had seen the video before it leaked to the public, making the punishment look weak. Rice was later suspended indefinitely by the NFL. He appealed and was soon after reinstated. He is now a free agent and he is eligible to be picked up by any team in the league.
So why is it that the former Pro Bowl running back hasn’t yet been picked up by a team? There are a couple of reasons. First off there is his age. Rice is 29 years old. Most running backs tend to lose their luster at age 30. The second reason is that Rice’s stats from the last season he played were mediocre. He averaged 3.1 yards per carry and only totaled 660 yards in 15 games. While there is a chance that Rice could come back and produce better numbers than his 2013 season, most teams don’t want to take the risk because of the bad publicity Rice would bring.
While teams may say that morality trumps everything else, that is a lie. Defensive end Greg Hardy is a perfect example of this. Hardy’s incident also occurred in 2014. He was accused of domestic violence and there were also pictures that proved his guilt. It is believed that Hardy paid off the defendant because she never showed up to court. Hardy never admitted to any wrongdoing, and after the incident he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys. Why was Hardy signed? The Cowboys believed that Hardy’s potential contributions to the team would outweigh any bad publicity he would bring.
Rice has essentially been the antithesis of Hardy when it comes to how he’s handled himself since the incident. He has apologized publicly on several occasions. He has since worked out things with his then-fiancé and they are now married. Rice has also become an advocate for domestic abuse awareness and has been active in talking to communities and youth about this topic. Rice has even stated that if he were to be signed by a team, he would donate his entire salary to a program to help the victims of domestic violence.
“Me donating my salary is something that’ll be from the heart for me,” said Rice in an NFL.com interview. “I only want to play football so I can end it the right way for my kids and for the people that really believed in me. But I know there’s a lot of people affected by domestic violence, and every dollar helps. It’s raising awareness.”
It appears that Rice is genuinely apologetic and willing to do whatever it takes just to be given a second chance. He certainly deserves to at least be given a chance to show if he can still produce; especially in a league where his position is one of importance. It appears that the recent bout of running back injuries could result in a potential comeback for the 29-year-old Super Bowl champ. To those that feel that Rice’s actions were so egregious that he doesn’t deserve another chance, I ask: if he doesn’t, then who does?
