Sometimes, the NFL has to take its effort to discipline players through the full process. Sometimes, it doesn’t.
With Saints running back Alvin Kamara and Colts cornerback Chris Lammons, their respective three-game suspensions were the result of a negotiated compromise.
The NFL has confirmed the obvious implication of the speed with which the matters were resolved.
The settlement kept the league from activating the formal hearing procedures, which would have resulted in a hearing before Judge Sue L. Robinson. After her ruling, the players or the league could have appealed the outcomes.
With Kamara and Lemmons each accepting three-game suspensions, the question becomes what the league would have sought if the hearings had gone forward.
The baseline suspension for assault is six games, with potential upward and downward adjustment tied to specific aggravating and mitigating factors.
The resolution demonstrates the value of shifting a portion of the process to an independent party. If the league still had full and complete control over the imposition of discipline, the league would have had no reason to bend from whatever the league wanted to do.