Gambling appears to have been widespread within the Lions organization last season.
In addition to today’s bombshell announcement that four Lions players have been suspended for gambling, ESPN reports that several Lions staff members in various departments were fired last month for violating the gambling policy.
Staff members of NFL teams are not allowed to bet on NFL games, the draft, postseason awards or anything else NFL-related, and they’re also not allowed to gamble on anything at all while they are at the team facility or traveling for team business. It is not clear specifically which rules the Lions employees violated.
The Lions have not said anything about the fired staffers. They did announce that they have released wide receiver Quintez Cephus and safety C.J. Moore after they were both suspended for the entire 2023 season for gambling, and they have said they will work with wide receivers Stanley Berryhill and Jameson Williams, who were each suspended six games.
NFL employees and players are responsible for their own actions, and there has been no indication from the leagues that the Lions franchise will face discipline. But it doesn’t reflect well on the Lions as an organization and the highest levels of team leadership that so many players and employees thought they could get away with breaking one of the NFL’s most fundamental rules.