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Xuan Thai, ESPN Senior Writer
On Aug. 13, three days after his first NFL appearance, Cleveland Browns rookie Michael Hall Jr. was arrested after police said he held a gun to his fiancée’s head and threatened to kill her.
Hall initially pleaded not guilty to a domestic violence charge, and the NFL opened an investigation into the allegations the next day. He played in the Browns’ remaining two preseason games before the NFL announced he would be placed on the commissioner’s exempt list and barred from practice or games until the league concluded its investigation. His fiancée later recanted her statement that Hall held a gun to her head, and in September, he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct. The NFL suspended him Oct. 1 for five games without pay.
The NFL’s immediate reaction to Hall’s arrest was a result of the procedures implemented a decade ago, when public criticism over the league’s delayed response to allegations involving then-Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice forced a toughening of policies around domestic violence. The changes included new minimum punishments for first-time offenders and mandatory player education.
Since then, the league says, player arrests for all types of offenses have gone down “by half.” However, the number of players accused in domestic violence cases has fluctuated from year to year, according to figures released by the league to ESPN. In 2023, 11 cases of domestic violence were reported to the NFL, as compared to eight cases reported in 2015, the first full year after policy changes. Figures in other years ranged from three to nine incidents. So far in 2024, five cases have been reported to the league.
“Domestic violence and sexual assault are huge societal problems,” said Lisa Friel, the longtime Manhattan prosecutor hired by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as part of his response to the Rice case. “We probably do a better job than just about anywhere of educating all our people and the audience that we have access to about these issues.”
Ten years ago, in September 2014, video emerged of Rice knocking out his then-fiancée Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City, New Jersey, elevator on Feb. 15, 2014. About five months before the video became public, Rice was indicted for third-degree aggravated assault, and the NFL suspended him for two games in July of that year.
After the video leaked, ESPN reporting at the time showed that top Ravens officials knew almost immediately in February what the video showed and lobbied the league to lighten any punishment for Rice.
Goodell said no one in the NFL saw the inside-elevator video until the public did. But amid public criticism, Goodell apologized and said he “didn’t get it right.” Rice was suspended indefinitely, and the Ravens cut him. He never played again in the league.
As part of the response, Goodell hired Friel, a 28-year veteran of the Manhattan district attorney’s office who once led New York City’s sex crimes prosecution unit, as special counsel responsible for overseeing domestic violence investigations. The NFL also promoted Anna Isaacson to a newly created role focused on social and cultural issues.
The league implemented sweeping changes to its personal conduct policy to include punishments for domestic violence, with a six-game suspension for first-time offenders that can be adjusted based on aggravating or mitigating factors and a lifetime ban for second offenses. (Players can petition for reinstatement after one year.) The NFL also mandated annual domestic violence training for all league employees, team owners and staff and players.
In the three years before the NFL changed its personal conduct policy, an average of about 69 players were arrested per year for all offenses, including domestic violence, according to data provided by the league. From 2021 through 2023, an average of about 34 players were arrested each year.
“Would I like to see that at zero? Of course I would,” Friel told ESPN. “The public would like to see crimes go down to zero. I don’t know how realistic that is, but that we went down by half is a huge change. So I think we’ve made a big difference here.”
Despite the new minimum penalties, the NFL continues to face public criticism that punishments have been inconsistent or selective. Some players accused of violating the personal conduct policy have been cut outright by teams, never to play again, while stars such as Ezekiel Elliott and Kareem Hunt were handed suspensions by the league before resuming their careers. Elliott, who never faced criminal charges, served a six-game suspension after a league investigation into claims he abused his girlfriend in 2016, and Hunt sat out eight games for his altercation with a woman in a Cleveland hotel in 2018.
Some players don’t get suspended by the league at all, including Tyreek Hill, the subject of a police investigation after his son sustained a broken arm in 2019. Police determined the injury was accidental and not child abuse. After a four-month investigation, the NFL could not find evidence that Hill violated the personal conduct policy, a decision that drew criticism because leaked audio of an argument between Hill and the mother of his child included her accusations of child abuse. Hill had previously pleaded guilty to a domestic assault charge while in college. Hill denied both allegations in the recorded argument.
Last week, the NFL suspended Buffalo Bills defensive end Von Miller for four games without pay for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. Miller turned himself in to Glenn Heights (Texas) police last year following an arrest warrant for a charge of third-degree felony assault of a pregnant woman. Miller denied the allegations, and a spokesperson for the Dallas district attorney’s office told ESPN the case against Miller has been closed.
On Sept. 30, the league said it found insufficient evidence that former Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Brandon McManus violated the personal conduct policy after it investigated allegations that he sexually assaulted two women on the team’s flight to London in 2023.
The NFL said Monday that it is investigating New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers, who pleaded not guilty after he was arrested on charges of assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, strangulation, and possession of a Class B substance believed to be cocaine, according to Braintree, Massachusetts police. A woman alleged that Peppers hit her, choked her, took off her clothing and put her outside. She told police she and Peppers had been dating “on and off” for about three years. Peppers’ attorney has said there is evidence that “sheds real doubt on the allegations, including videotaped evidence.”
‘100% sure’
Though the NFL’s policy does not require a criminal conviction or even a charge to punish a player — only “credible evidence … that he engaged in prohibited conduct” is required — Friel said her standard in making recommendations is similar to that when she was a prosecutor.
“I have to be 100% sure when I do an investigation that they did what they were accused of,” Friel said. “That’s my personal statement. I wasn’t going to see anybody go to jail as a DA if I wasn’t 100% sure, and I’m not going to see anybody disciplined here unless I’m 100% sure.”
Friel does not issue player punishments. Following an investigation, she writes a report, and Goodell makes the final decision.
“The NFL is not going to make a disciplinary decision just based on an allegation,” Friel told ESPN. “We’re going to investigate that allegation, and we have to develop sufficient evidence that what someone is saying really occurred. … Zero games means we couldn’t prove any allegation in those cases.”
Friel also is limited in her powers to investigate. As a private lawyer for the NFL, she does not have subpoena authority and can only compel NFL employees to speak to her, which has forced her to learn new ways to gather evidence. She also has to manage tension that arises between the league and the players’ union.
For example, an independent arbiter appointed by the NFL and NFL Players Association ruled in August 2022 that Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who was accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct during massage sessions, should serve a six-game suspension. Watson denied the allegations. Goodell said the evidence showed Watson should serve a full-season suspension, so the NFL appealed. Ultimately, the league and NFLPA settled on an 11-game suspension and a $5 million fine.
“We’re definitely not on the same side, so to speak,” Friel said. “They have a different job to do. Their job is to represent the player the best they can, which includes getting the discipline as low as they can make it. The player is their client, so if a player says to them, ‘I’m not taking any discipline, we’re going to go and have an appeal on that,’ [the union has to] go along with what the player wants.”
The NFLPA did not respond to requests for comment.
Friel said she has had to educate league and team employees about the nuances of domestic violence cases, particularly about why people often don’t want to cooperate with investigations or sometimes recant statements.
“There are so many good reasons that victims don’t cooperate or discontinue cooperating,” Friel said, adding that financial dependency and children often complicate investigations. “I see cases where I feel like something really happened here. … When you specialize in domestic violence and sexual assault, you have to get over something like disappointment [of not having evidence for a case] pretty early.”
‘Swift and very clear response’
Within weeks of the Rice video, Isaacson, now the league’s senior vice president of social responsibility, arranged a visit for Goodell to the National Domestic Violence Hotline call center based in Austin, Texas, where the commissioner listened to incoming calls.
“I remember the commissioner being visibly shaken,” said Katie Ray-Jones, the hotline’s chief executive officer.
“He had probably one of the worst calls we’ve ever had here at the hotline. It was very, very violent, serendipitous maybe that the commissioner would hear something that many women, many victims experience,” Jones said. “I think it was very hard for him, and when he left our office that night, he said [the NFL] will be a lifelong partner.”
Since then, the NFL has given nearly $34 million to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The league also established a critical response team that assembles to assist a player or family member in crisis.
Juan Carlos Areán, a program director at Futures Without Violence, said people might find it difficult to report an allegation to authorities or to an abuser’s employer. Critics of the league’s approach have said people might feel intimidated speaking about their allegations to the NFL. A survey by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that approximately half of domestic violence victims will file a report to police.
When issuing punishments to players, Areán cautioned against a zero-tolerance policy, which can further deter reporting.
“Many survivors want their partners to get help and to change and maybe to be sanctioned in some way, but not necessarily to lose completely their careers,” Areán said. “The important thing is to have a swift and very clear response. I do believe that consequences and sanctions are necessary.”
Advocates and survivors of domestic violence say they believe there is still more the league could do, including providing dedicated advocates to guide people making accusations through the reporting and recovery process.
Alleah Taylor, who in 2021 was attacked by her then-boyfriend Chad Wheeler, at the time a Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman, said the NFL reached out just once after the assault to ask about the extent of her injuries but did not offer further assistance.
On Jan. 22, 2021, Wheeler choked Taylor into unconsciousness in a bedroom. When she came to, Wheeler was standing near the bed and said, “Wow, you’re alive?” according to a police report. When police forced entry into the apartment she shared with Wheeler, they found her face “covered in blood” and her left arm limp against her body.
Wheeler was cut by the Seahawks after his arrest. Friel said the NFL issued no punishment because Wheeler did not play in the league again after his arrest. In March 2024, he was sentenced to 81 months in prison for first- and second-degree assault/domestic violence.
Though she would have liked more help from the league, Taylor told ESPN she understands the NFL’s main goal in a situation like hers is to “figure out the situation for their employee.” Still, she would have appreciated efforts such as an offer of counseling or other resources.
“I would want them to care a bit more,” Taylor said.
Friel said when she contacts a complainant, she will ask whether the individual or their family needs resources and whether she can help arrange further assistance. According to the personal conduct policy, the league may provide alleged victims and their families with, or direct them to, counseling or other social services. In Taylor’s case, she was already working with a local domestic abuse advocate, Friel said.
Friel also pointed to the NFL’s critical response team as a resource. Implemented after a 2014 review of the league’s practices, the critical response team is a collection of NFL employees from security, legal, human resources, public relations and social responsibility, plus a domestic violence adviser, to respond quickly to situations ranging from mental health crises to domestic violence.
“If someone is struggling with their place to live, you may consider offering them temporary housing. What does that look like? Can they stay with a family or a friend? If not, is there a hotel that we could possibly put them up in for a short time until we figure out the situation?” Isaacson said. “So we have these procedures in place that help guide what the parameters are for the support that we can give.”
Isaacson said the Rice case inspired “an understanding that we were going to need to take a stand on additional issues.”
“It has shaped who we are as an organization and how we approach social issues. I think it shaped us for the better,” she said.